Delhi: As vaccine stock runs low, Sisodia calls for transparency in allocation

On Monday evening, according to the government’s vaccine bulletin, the city had less than one day’s stock of Covaxin and five days’ stock of Covishield left for the group that comprises health care workers, frontline workers and individuals aged 45 and above.

As vaccine stocks in the city for all beneficiary groups continued to dwindle on Monday, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia urged the central government to ensure supply of more doses for the 18-44 age group, make the statewise vaccine allocation system more transparent, and give advance estimates of supply for the months of June and July so that appropriate vaccination strategies can be drafted by the city government.

A health worker prepares a dose of Covid-19 vaccine, at Suraj Mal Vihar Government school, in New Delhi on May 17, 2021. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

On Monday evening, according to the government’s vaccine bulletin, the city had less than one day’s stock of Covaxin and five days’ stock of Covishield left for the group that comprises health care workers, frontline workers and individuals aged 45 and above.

For the 18-44 years category, the government has already run out of Covaxin stock – leading to temporary suspension of around 140 centres last week – and had about four days’ stock of Covishield doses left.

While the Delhi government is scheduled to receive 283,970 doses of Covishield and 98,890 doses of Covaxin between May 21 and 29 for health care workers, frontline workers and individuals aged 45 years and above, no vaccines are expected to arrive for the 18-44 years group till May 29, shows a separate set of government documents seen by HT.

In a press briefing on Monday, Sisodia said: “We have limited vaccine doses for beneficiaries belonging to the 18-44 years group. We may have to shut our centres. The central government is unable to provide us with adequate doses for this age group.”

In a statement issued later, the deputy CM said, “In a letter addressed to the Delhi government, the central government has committed to distribute 3.83 lakh doses for 45+ age group, however the same provision has not been extended to the 18-44 age group. This is a grave issue that requires immediate attention of the Centre. At the very least, they should match the doses for 45+ citizens and distribute 3.83 lakh doses for the 18-44 age group as well.”

The statement added” “I have written a letter to the central government today requesting their support on three key matters. First, to make vaccine doses available for citizens between 18-44 years, just like they have given us doses for citizens above 45 years… My second request is to make allocation data of vaccines transparent and open to the public… Allocation data on how many vaccine doses have been administered to which state and for which age group, should be open to the public. We also need to know how many vaccine doses are being sent to private and government centres. (The) central government should be transparent in its vaccine allocation data, just like it has increasingly shown transparency in oxygen allocation in every state.”

Central government officials did not respond.

According to a formula shared by the Centre with the Supreme Court on May 9, state governments will altogether have access to 25% of the total vaccines produced in a month for vaccinating people in the 18-44 age group. By that system, states collectively will be given 20 million doses to inoculate their 18-44 age group population from the roughly 80 million vaccines doses expected to be produced this month, which essentially leads to fixing of quotas on a pro-rata fashion for states based on their population size in the 18-44 age group.

Sisodia further said in the statement: “The third request pertains to communicating information on (the) number of vaccine doses that will be administered to us in the months of June and July, just like how we have received information for the month of May. This will help us in planning our vaccination programme, so that we can make a streamlined system of how many centres will be equipped with vaccines and how centres will be managed.”

On Monday, Delhi also opened its government schools for vaccination of people aged over 45 years – which was so far happening only at dispensaries and hospital premises – with an on-site registration facility.

“We began vaccination drive for 18-44 and 45+ citizens in a rapid manner and from today, we have started moving vaccination centres from hospitals and dispensaries to Delhi government schools with the introduction of walk-in facility for citizens above 45 years. As of now, this programme is working successfully and we hope that we can expect support from the Centre on this,” he said.

According to Monday’s vaccine bulletin, the government said that more than 4.6 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in Delhi since the roll-out of the drive on January 16 – of which around 1.06 million were second doses.

Delhi, by electoral roll data, has a total adult population of around 15 million. The shortage of vaccines adds up to concerns for people who have their second doses due in the coming days.

Dr Lalit Kant, former head of the division of epidemiology and communicable diseases at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said: “People should take the second dose in time. Even if there is a delay, they should still take it at the earliest. But delay in taking the second dose would lead to compromise with the potential immunity provided against Covid-19 by the concerned vaccine.”