Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday said there was only three days’ worth of Covid-19 vaccines left for the 18 to 44 years age group. He urged the Centre to provide more vaccines and said that the Centre had not made any more vaccine allocations in May for those under 45.
“As of today, Delhi has only four days worth of vaccines for beneficiaries above 45,” Sisodia said during a briefing. “But the Centre had said that 3,45,000 vaccines will be sent for this age group. For those in the 18 to 44 age group, the administration has only three days worth of vaccines.”
Sisodia said he wrote to the Centre with demands that include more vaccines for the 18 to 44 age group even if it’s the same number of shots being provided for those above 45. “If we are not provided with more vaccines, within four days, the centres inoculating those in the 18-44 age group would have to be shut down,” Sisodia said.
The Delhi deputy chief minister also said there should be more clarity on the data for the quantity of Covid-19 vaccines were being allotted to which age group. He said this was important for the government to plan its vaccination strategy.
Meanwhile, Delhi reported 4,524 new Covid-19 cases, 10,918 recoveries and 340 deaths, according to ANI. The Capital’s case count reach 13,98,391, including 56,049 active cases, 13,20,496 recoveries and 21,846 fatalities.
This is the first time since April 5 that the city reported less than 5,000 cases. The Capital’s Covid-19 positivity rate was also recorded at 8.42% – a sharp fall since last month.
On April 28, Delhi had reported 99,752 active Covid-19 cases, the highest since the pandemic began, according to Mint. The city had also reported 1,843 deaths due to Covid-19 in six days, with 19,663 fatalities recorded on May 10 to 21,506 on May 16.
The Capital’s positivity rate had reached a record 36.2% on April 22.
However, in recent weeks, the situation in the Capital seemed to be improving. Delhi had struggled to get oxygen when the second wave of the coronavirus was at its peak, with the state and Centre taking the matter to court. Hospitals and citizens had taken to social media to seek oxygen. The shortage had led to the deaths of many patients.
On May 13, the Delhi government wrote to the Centre, saying the surplus oxygen being given to the city can be supplied to other states. Sisodia had then said the national Capital had a requirement of 700 metric tonnes of oxygen when the number of cases was rising. He claimed that many beds in the city’s hospitals were now empty and that oxygen demand had fallen.
India has been facing shortages of vaccines, medical equipment and certain drugs in several parts of the country as manufacturers are unable to meet supply requirements. As many as 10 states have decided to float global tenders for procuring the doses as they struggle to inoculate those in the age group of 18-44, who became eligible for the shots in third phase of vaccination that rolled out on May 1.
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