Delhi: Covishield 1st dose back from Monday

NEW DELHI: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that 1 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines had been administered in Delhi so far. This includes 74 lakh first doses and almost 50% of the eligible population of Delhi have been vaccinated with at least one dose. Over 26 lakh people are fully vaccinated.
Kejriwal stated that Delhi had the capacity to administer three lakh doses a day but was unable to do so because of the shortage of vaccine stocks. The first dose of Covishield was not available in Delhi government facilities since July 22 because the government restricted the use of Covishield for the first dose till July 31 due to stock shortage.
An official said that from Monday, Covishield would be available for the first dose also, but only around 25% of the Covishield stock would be used for the first dose.
In a press conference, Kejriwal said Delhi’s vaccination programme had achieved an important milestone. “Today, we have reached the 1 crore mark, we have administered over 1 crore doses in Delhi since the start of the vaccination drive. Roughly, 2 crore people live in Delhi, of which 1.5 crore are 18+ and thus eligible for getting the vaccine. So about 50% of the population have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine,” he stated.
“As per the stock of doses we are receiving, our doctors, our nurses and healthcare workers are putting in their best throughout the day and night to vaccinate the people of the city. The people of Delhi as well are very enthusiastic about getting vaccinated and are coming forward to get their shots,” the CM added.
For the milestone, he congratulated all the people who have been involved in Delhi’s vaccination programme.
Kejriwal further said: “At present, we administer only up to 70,000 doses each day because there’s a huge lack of vaccines. If we can get sufficient stocks, we possess the infrastructure and setup to administer 3 lakh vaccine doses a day. But we are unable to do so because we do not have enough vaccines. We are in constant touch with the central government, and I hope that Delhi, along with other states of the country, will soon start receiving adequate stocks from the Centre.”
The CM appealed to people who have not received the vaccines yet to get it immediately.
Since July 12, only 20% of Covaxin's stock are being used for the first dose in Delhi due to shortage of supply. “There is a huge gap in the first and second dose numbers. It is significant to get those who have received the first dose to get the second dose also, so that they are fully vaccinated,” said an official.