The national capital Delhi’s Covid-19 vaccine stocks are fast depleting and the Centre must ensure adequate availability to enable the city to inoculate all eligible beneficiaries in the next three months, Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi Chief Minister, said on Saturday.

Addressing a digital press conference, Kejriwal said Delhi was doing one lakh vaccinations each day and its current vaccine  stock may last for the next 5-6 days.

So far Delhi has received 40 lakh doses and another 2.6 crore doses are required if all eligible beneficiaries in Delhi are to be vaccinated in three months.

Elaborating on the numbers behind the vaccine dose requirements, Kejriwal said: “Delhi’s population is about 2 crore. Of this, 1 crore people are in the 18-45 age group; 50 lakh are below the age of 18 and 50 lakh above the age of 45 years. Hence, there are almost 1.5 crore people above the age of 18. If two vaccine doses are to be administered to each of the 1.5 crore people, then our overall vaccine dose requirement is 3 crores, of which the Delhi government has already received 40 lakh doses. We need 2.6 crore more doses — about 80 to 85 lakh doses are needed each month if we are to vaccinate everybody in three months”, he said.

If Delhi is given 80–85 lakh Covid vaccine doses per month, then all the beneficiaries can be vaccinated in three months, according to Kejriwal.

To vaccinate everybody in Delhi in three months, there is a need to vaccinate 3 lakh people every day. “Currently we are inoculating one lakh people in a day. I request the Centre to ensure adequate availability of vaccines to Delhi. Our current stocks will last only for 5 to 6 days,” he said.

At a high-level meeting to review the Covid situation in the Capital, Kejriwal had on Friday directed officials that all eligible beneficiaries should be vaccinated against COVID-19 within the next three months.

On Saturday Kejriwal also announced that the Delhi government will soon expand the number of schools where vaccination is administered for those in the 18 to 44 age group to 300 (schools) from the current level of about 100 schools.

OXYGEN SUPPLIES

Meanwhile, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday said at a separate press conference that the national Capital had received 487 metric tonnes of oxygen on Friday, much lower than the daily average requirement of around 700 metric tonnes.

He urged the Central Government to keep the daily supplies of oxygen at least at 700 metric tonnes till the pandemic is over.“Our current demand from Delhi hospitals is around 700 MT per day. Our request to the Centre is not to reduce supply below this level. I am confident that just as 730 MT was provided on May 5, the Centre would help Delhi get at least 700 metric tonnes every day on a sustained basis going forward,” he said.

The Supreme Court had on Friday reminded the Centre that it had an obligation to supply at least 700 MT of oxygen each day to Delhi. A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah had warned the Centre from forcing the Court into taking “coercive action” against it, by reneging on its assurance in court to supply 700 metric tonnes in Delhi.

 

 

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