Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Monday warned that the city was running dangerously low on vaccine supplies, a problem that could exacerbate the strong second wave of coronavirus infections in the Capital, NDTV reported.
“There is only one day of Covaxin [supplies] left in Delhi and only three to four days of Covishield,” Jain told reporters. “We need vaccines at the earliest.”
Covishield and Covaxin are the two shots that are being used in the country right now. Despite being the world’s biggest producer of vaccines, India now does not have enough for itself and several states have ran out of vaccines in recent weeks.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Atishi said that centres where Covaxin was being used for those in the 18-44 age bracket would have to be shut after Tuesday evening if stocks were not replenished, according to PTI.
“On Monday morning, Delhi had 2.74 lakh vaccine doses for people in the 18-plus category,” she said. “After Tuesday evening, the Delhi government will have to start closing down the vaccination centres where Covaxin is being administered [to the 18-44 age group]. We will also have to shut down Covishield inoculation centres after four days.”
The Narendra Modi-led administration at the Centre has been widely criticised for opening up vaccination for all adults, without a proper supply schedule from manufacturers. States have had to delay the third phase of vaccination as enough supplies are not available to handle the burden of inoculating nearly 60 crore citizens in the 18-44 age group who became eligible to receive the jab from May 1.
On May 8, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had appealed to the Centre to provide 2.6 crore more vaccine doses to inoculate the city’s entire population over the next three months. Kejriwal had said that Delhi currently had doses enough to vaccinate people only for the next five to six days.
The chief minister said that the Capital has received about 40 lakh doses from the Centre so far as against its requirement of roughly three crore doses. “We need 80 to 85 lakh vaccine doses every month for three months to inoculate all in Delhi,” he said. “Our plan is to vaccinate everyone in three months, and for that, we need these many doses.”
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