Delhi: Covid-19 vaccination slows down further, only 30,000 doses administered Wednesday

The numbers have been sliding since February, with over 98,000 doses being given just a month ago. The officials have attributed this to Delhi reaching a saturation point, with fewer people remaining to take their second dose and not many turning up for their third or the precaution dose.

“We have already immunised almost all of the population, now those who remain are the ones who were hesitant, to begin with, so it will take time to convince them. Meanwhile, we are focusing on special groups, we have immunised over 1,800 old persons who couldn’t travel to the vaccination centres at their homes. We are also focusing on the transgender population,” said a senior official from Delhi’s health department.

So far, 4,36,685 people have received the precaution dose in the city. There are around 2,40,000 healthcare workers, 3,50,000 frontline workers, and an estimated 3,80,000 people over the age of 60 years with co-morbidities who are eligible for the precaution dose in Delhi.

The trend of more children between the ages of 15 to 17 years being vaccinated during the second week of February has also reversed, with more people from the age group 18-45 years getting vaccinated. There were 20,810 shots given on average every day in the age group of 18 to 45 during the three days this week compared to 8,632 shots being given to those between the ages of 15 and 17 years.

The number of children getting immunised had picked up in January end and February first week because they had become eligible for the second dose. According to government officials, all the eligible children have received their first dose but only about half have received the second dose. But the pace of the second dose is not as fast as the first dose owing to approaching final exams.