Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar receives his second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at RML Hospital in New Delhi on Thursday. (PTI) The Delhi government on Thursday said there were no issues regarding shortage of vaccines as it had been receiving ample amounts of it from the Centre.
“Vaccination is going well in Delhi. We have stock that will last for at least five to six days. We received doses on Wednesday and have placed orders for more,” Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain told reporters.
On Wednesday, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had hit out at the Maharashtra government over its claim that the state is running short of vaccines. Vardhan also took on Delhi and Punjab for poor coverage of vaccination among priority groups.
When asked about Vardhan’s remarks, Jain said the poor coverage in Delhi is because very few frontline workers at Central hospitals have been vaccinated. “Around 30% of frontline workers have been inoculated at hospitals run by the Centre. It is because of this that Delhi’s numbers are low. However, we don’t want to quibble over these things. We should focus on vaccinating more and more people,” he added.
He said that the Centre also appears to be ready to allow schools and community centres to be used as vaccination sites, as suggested by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 5.
Speaking about the rising cases across the national capital, Jain said, “This time, young people are getting infected in large numbers. The rate of infection is more in cities. However, the severity is less and fewer deaths are being recorded as compared to the last three waves.”
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