NEW DELHI: Delhi has only one day of Covaxin stock left for those aged above 45, healthcare and frontline workers, while Covishield doses for this category can last up to five days, AAP MLA Atishi said on Sunday. She said 1.18 lakh beneficiaries received the jabs on May 15.
Around 10.50 lakh people have got both the doses since the inoculation drive began on January 16. Delhi has so far received 44.94 lakh vaccine doses for this age group, of which 41.68 lakh have been administered, Atishi said.
“After Sunday evening, the city will have only one day of Covaxin stock and five days of Covishield doses left. We appeal to the central government to make more vaccines available for this category immediately,” she said.
The capital has received 8.17 lakh doses for the 18-44 age group so far, of which 5.25 lakh have been used till Sunday.
“Since there are no Covaxin doses left for this category, all such vaccination centres have been shut. We have six days of Covishield stock left,” she said.
“We appeal to the Centre to provide more doses of Covaxin and Covishield. If Covaxin cannot be arranged, more doses of Covishield should be given to keep the inoculation drive going at this pace,” she said.
A total of 44.90 lakh doses have been administered in Delhi so far, according to the latest ‘vaccination bulletin’ released by the government.
The Delhi government had received over 1.73 lakh doses of Covishield on Saturday. A government panel has recommended increasing the gap between two doses of Covishield Covid-19 vaccine to 12-16 weeks.
Those whose vaccination is due this month will not be administered the vaccine and will only be given the dose according to the new guidelines, a government official said.
Healthcare workers, frontline staff and those aged above 45 are being vaccinated at 470 centres, whereas beneficiaries in the 18-44 age group are being inoculated at 353 centres.
Plea for vaccine supply to Delhi on priority basis
A plea in the Delhi High Court has sought directions to the Centre to ensure that Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech supply the jabs to the national capital on priority basis.
The application by a lawyer claims that the vaccination drive in Delhi is in a “sorry state” due to shortage of jabs. Nazia Parveen, in her plea, contends that the “biggest hurdle” to overcoming pandemic is delay in vaccination.