Plan in place to vaccinate all in 3 months, orders for 3 lakh doses placed: Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal held a meeting on the vaccination drive on Thursday, where the plan to vaccinate all adults in Delhi was discussed. He said the government will set up vaccination centres on a large scale to vaccinate all eligible people in the next three months.

The CM also tweeted, “Had a meeting with officials on vaccination drive in Delhi. Prepared a plan to vaccinate all above 18 years in the next 3 months. We will set up vaccination centres on a large scale. All eligible people must come forward to get vaccinated.”

The Delhi government has placed an order for 3 lakh vaccines so far, but the date of arrival has not been made clear yet. A statement issued by the CM’s office after the meeting stated that orders for the rest will be placed soon. “Officials intimated that work for the order and procurement of the vaccine is in progress. The first lot of the vaccine doses will be received soon. Orders for 50 lakh vaccine doses are being placed,” it said.

Kejriwal had said earlier this week that financial approvals to buy 1.34 crore vaccines had been granted. He also took the second shot of the vaccine on Thursday.

Delhi saw 24,235 new Covid cases on Thursday at a positivity rate of almost 33%. 395 people have died of the disease, taking the total death toll to 15,772.

The L-G, meanwhile, also sought a report on vaccination preparedness from the Chief Secretary.

So far, Delhi has given the first dose to over 31 lakh people. Of these, 6.3 lakh people have got both doses, data shared by the government says. Delhi’s estimated population is close to 2 crore.

As per the Centre’s guidelines, in the first phase, vaccines were available only to healthcare workers and frontline workers. In the second phase, those above the age of 60 and between the ages of 45 and 59 with co-morbid conditions were eligible to take the shot. The third phase of the mass immunisation drive kicked off on April 1 with Centre allowing states to vaccinate all people above the age of 45 years.

While registration for vaccination for the 18-44 age group opened Wednesday, slots are not being booked presently.

Health Minister Satyendar Jain, meanwhile, said the government had not changed its testing strategy: “In the face of the lockdown, public movement has substantially dropped, and footfall has decreased in dispensaries and hospitals… tests are being conducted for all in large numbers.”

Several people, however, have complained that getting a Covid test done at home is nearly impossible at present.