Delhi can store 11.5 million vaccine doses in a week: Kejriwal

With all three vaccines that have applied for emergency use authorisation in India needing two doses, Delhi would need 10.2 million doses to vaccinate its three priority groups.

The Delhi government has storage facility for 7.4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, which will be increased to 11.5 million within a week, announced Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday. The government estimates that around 5.1 million people in three priority groups will receive the vaccine in the first phase.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addressing a press conference on the national capital's Covid-19 vaccine arrangements, at his residence in New Delhi, India on Thursday, December 24, 2020. (HT Photo)

With all three vaccines that have applied for emergency use authorisation in India needing two doses, Delhi would need 10.2 million doses to vaccinate its three priority groups.

“We already have a capacity to store around 74 lakh doses. This will increase to 11.5 million in the next five to seven days. We need 10.2 million doses to vaccinate the people in the priority groups,” Kejriwal said in a press briefing.

The Delhi government currently has a central vaccine storage facility in Civil Lines, which had stored 5 million doses of measles rubella vaccine during the planned one-time drive, along with other vaccines for routine immunisation.

Apart from this, the Delhi government is setting up another central vaccine storage facility at its 650-bed Rajiv Gandhi Superspeciality Hospital in Tahirpur, as reported first by HT. A separate 5,000 square feet two-storey building at the hospital is being retrofitted with electrical fittings and deep freezers.

The facility will have approximately 90 deep freezers that can store the vaccine either between 2 to 8 degrees Celsius or up to -20 degrees Celsius. Two of the three vaccines — Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Oxford/ Astrazeneca’s Covishield marketed by Serum Institute of India — need a temperature of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius for storage, which is what is available across the country for the routine immunisation programme.

The vaccine by Pfizer needs minus 70 degrees Celsius temperature for storage.

“The work is likely to be completed in another two to three days. However, we do not know at the moment how many doses the facility can hold. It will depend on which vaccine is given approval and what kind of packaging it will come in,” said a senior official from Delhi’s health department.

The Delhi airport, where vaccines from outside India are likely to land, has a capacity for 2.7 million doses in cold chambers in its cargo terminal.

“The vaccines that come from abroad will be brought from the airport to the central storage facilities. For those manufactured in India, it will be brought to the facility from the companies. After this, it will be distributed to the depots in every district from where it will go to the fixed point,” said a second Delhi government official.

The vaccines will be delivered through the 640 “fixed points”, such as government dispensaries, that dot the city.

Administrations in each of the 11 districts have also been tasked to keep tie-up with transporters, pharmaceutical companies and logistics companies for safe transportation of the vials. The districts have also started identifying locations, where camps will be set up, most of which will be hospitals, mohalla clinics and some schools.

A senior health official said that talks are on to set up a vaccination camp at the IGI airport as well.

When it comes to preparation for vaccine distribution, airport authorities said all arrangements are in place. The authority has named the mission ‘Project Sanjivani’. The airport has a storage capacity of 2.7 million vials of Covid-19 vaccine at any given point of time. It also has two cargo terminals with cool chambers where temperature can be set anywhere between -20 degrees Celsius to 25 degrees Celsius. The Delhi airport has also made arrangements for dry ice supply so that the vaccine can be kept stable for a longer period. A separate entrance for trucks carrying vaccines has been made.