Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain on Monday urged the Centre to provide more vaccine to fulfil the vaccination demand of the people of Delhi. Jain said there is only one day of Covaxin left in Delhi and only three to four days of Covishield.
Earlier the state government has said in an SOS message to the Centre that Delhi has enough Covaxin to last only a day and Covishield enough for around four days.
United States public health expert Dr Anthony Fauci on Sunday said that getting people vaccinated is the only long-term solution to the current Covid-19 crisis in India. He also called for boosting the manufacturing of coronavirus vaccines both domestically and globally.
What is the current status of Centre’s new vaccination policy in Delhi ?
This month India has initiated the Covid vaccination for all adults. Under the Centre’s new vaccination policy, the states and private hospitals can directly buy Covid vaccines from the makers.
Vaccine manufacturers like Bharat Biotech (Covaxin) and Serum Institute of India (Covishield) are to sell half their doses to the Centre at lower prices and the other half to states and private hospitals at higher prices. But states have only received their quota from the Centre; vaccine manufacturers say it will take more time to supply to states and private hospitals.
How many Covid vaccine doses are Delhi needed ?
In a letter to the Centre on Sunday, Kejriwal said Delhi need 3 crore doses for 1.5 crore people while Delhi have received roughly 50 lakh doses so far. Therefore, Delhi need about 2.5 crore additional doses, but the Centre failed to provide supplies as per states requirement.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had earlier flagged a shortage of vaccines, pointing out that people from neighbouring areas like Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurgaon were also driving to Delhi for Covid shots.
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Delhi Chief Minister had been estimated that Delhi needs 83 lakh doses per month to vaccinate everyone above 18 years of age in the next three months. He had said that in Delhi, almost half the two crore population is in the 18 to 45 age group and therefore eligible for vaccines. Some 50 lakh are above 45.
What is the Covid situation in India ?
India on Monday registered 3,66,161 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the tally of infections in the country to 2,26,62,575 since the pandemic broke out in January last year. With 3,754 deaths, the toll climbed to 2,46,116. There are 37,45,237 active cases and 1,86,71,222 patients have recovered from the infection so far.