Vaccination of 18-44 year olds takes off in Capital

While the third phase of vaccinations was officially launched from May 1, Delhi began wider inoculations only on Monday as supplies ran low.

The Delhi government on Monday inoculated 37,562 people aged between 18 and 44 against Covid-19, widening the vaccination drive on the lines of the Centre’s decision to make all adults eligible for the jabs, even as states grappled to acquire more doses from manufacturers to ramp up immunisations.

People aged 18 and above at a vaccination centre in Delhi on Monday. Ajay Aggarwal /HT PHOTO

While the third phase of vaccinations was officially launched from May 1, Delhi began wider inoculations only on Monday as supplies ran low. While the Centre is sponsoring vaccinations for those above 45, it has said that the states and private hospitals will have to directly procure doses from manufacturers to cover those in the 18-44 age group.

Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said 301 centres have been established at 76 schools. “Mass vaccination for youth of Delhi has begun in Delhi… Our target is to establish 3,000 such centres in 300 schools, subject to the availability of vaccine,” he said in a tweet. Sisodia added that there was 100% turnout at the vaccination centres on Monday. An official said that all slots were booked for the next two days.

More than 45,000 beneficiaries in this category can get jabs at the 300 centres in a day, according to the government.

“I am glad that the vaccine process for 18+ has started smoothly. It’s heartening to see that youngsters are coming out in large nos to get vaccinated. Get your elders vaccinated too. Encourage ur friends and relatives also to get vaccinated,” chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted.

Around 9.2 million people in India are eligible for the jabs in the 18-44 age group.

Sisodia said the Delhi government has received 450,000 vaccine doses so far for the third phase. “We want to ensure that all citizens between the ages of 18-45 are vaccinated, and are committed to scaling up vaccination centres in Delhi in a way that each school has 10 vaccination centres,” he said during his visit to a school to inspect the drive.

India has two Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers active at the moment, and both of them put together produce about 80 million doses a month. The two manufacturers are Serum Institute of India (SII), which is locally manufacturing Oxford University-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine under the brand name Covishield, and Bharat Biotech, which is producing Covaxin.

As per SII chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla, the company has a production capacity of about 60-70 million Covishield doses per month. Bharat Biotech currently produces about 10 million doses of Covaxin in a month.

On Monday, 250 people per centre were called in for the vaccination drive, with 100% turnout, Sisodia said. “I am confident this turnout will prevail because the youth is looking forward to get the Covid-19 vaccine. I met several people who informed me that while they faced no hindrances in getting vaccinated at the centres; there were challenges with regard to booking appointments. This is so because we only have 450,000 vaccines at the moment with limited centres, but we will resolve these challenges as we continue to expand our centres,” he said.

Sisodia, who is also Delhi’s nodal minister for managing the Covid-19 situation, said the Delhi government was in constant touch with companies and will continue to receive more doses.

Delhi labour minister Gopal Rai said the Delhi government aimed to allocate at least one school in each of the 274 wards of Delhi.

The Centre has made it clear that free vaccine doses are meant only for those above the age of 45, who are seen to be more at risk of severe disease or death with Covid-19. Vaccine makers will need to supply in a 50-50 ratio, with half going to the Centre, which will pass it on to states for the 45-plus vaccination in a formula it is yet to announce, and the rest directly to states and private hospitals.

The government has set up the vaccination centres in schools to accommodate the large number of beneficiaries in this phase, an official told PTI.

Before the current phase, vaccines were being given to those aged above 45 at about 500 centres in the national capital.

Around 60,000 people aged above 45 can be inoculated in the Capital every day, the official quoted above said. Pre-registration is mandatory for vaccination in the 18-44 age group, and there are no walk-ins under this category for now, the official added.

While Delhi’s Max Hospital started vaccinating people in the 18-44 age group at limited centres from Saturday, Fortis Healthcare began the exercise on Sunday.

The Delhi government has placed orders for 13.4 million vaccine doses, which will be delivered over the next three months. Of these, 6.7 million doses are of Covishield vaccine, which are being procured from the Pune-based Serum Institute of India, the official said.

Kejriwal last Thursday said that a plan has been formulated to vaccinate all adults against Covid-19 within the next three months. He had then said that everybody aged above 18 would be administered Covid-19 vaccines free of cost in Delhi.

Experts said it is imperative for the vaccine drive to cover as much ground as quickly as possible.

“The vaccination drive was announced for people over the age of 18 years from May 1 without ensuring availability of doses. No one is able to procure Covishield, which is what we have been administering...,” said Dr PK Bharadwaj, secretary, Delhi Voluntary Hospitals Forum and the chief executive director of Saroj Hospital.

Dr Narin Sehgal, Delhi secretary of Association of Healthcare Providers (India), said, “There is no clarity from the Delhi government on whether the private centres will receive any doses from them; they have started the drive today. Only a few private hospitals have started the immunisation drive with doses that they have procured themselves.”