Weekly Covid vaccinations in Delhi highest since early October

Delhi administered 859,426 shots of Covid-19 vaccines between December 6 and 12, data collated from the CoWin dashboard showed, the most in seven days since the week ended October 3, when just over 1.05 million people were vaccinated.

The pace of Covid-19 inoculations in the capital increased to almost 860,000 jabs in the week ended Sunday, the highest over a seven-day period since October 3, an uptick that comes amid persisting concerns over the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

A view inside a Covid-19 vaccination camp in New Delhi on Sunday. (Arvind Yadav / Hindustan Times)

Delhi administered 859,426 shots of Covid-19 vaccines between December 6 and 12, data collated from the CoWin dashboard showed, the most in seven days since the week ended October 3, when just over 1.05 million people were vaccinated. The city’s weekly vaccinations peaked the week before that, with over 1.16 million shots administered in the seven days to September 26, the official data showed.

Over 14.4 million people in Delhi have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine as of Sunday evening, which translates to around 97% of the city’s population. Of these, over 9.7 million have received both doses.

Daily vaccinations in the capital have picked up in the past few weeks, especially since news of the Omicron variant of Sars-CoV-2 emerged globally on November 25.

The seven-day average of jabs also peaked in the week to September 26, when 166,544 Covid-19 vaccines were administered on an average everyday.

Two cases of the Omicron variant have been detected so far in the capital – the first was a person who returned from Tanzania, and the second was a man who landed in the city from Zimbabwe – while there have been 38 Omicron infections detected across the country.

To be sure, the caseload in Delhi has remained very low and mostly stable since the fourth wave of Covid-19 in the city between April and May began to die down. As on Saturday, Delhi recorded an average of 52 fresh cases per day over the past week.

Since the new variant appeared, the state government has made increased vaccination rates among the city’s population a priority. During an address on November 30, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, while detailing the city’s preparedness to tackle any surge in cases, urged eligible residents to get their second vaccine doses soon.

A Delhi government spokesperson attributed the jump in vaccinations to the state’s efforts.

“Recently, CM Kejriwal issued strict directions to officers to ramp up awareness campaigns and reach out to each and every resident of the state and motivate them to get their doses. The Delhi government will continue to rapidly vaccinate eligible citizens and protect them from the spread of the virus,” the spokesperson said.

Dr Jugal Kishore, head of the department of community medicine at Delhi’s Safdarjung hospital, said that the vaccination rates increased after the April-May wave of Covid-19, but started dipping again later on

“In the last month, very few people came to get vaccinated. Even at the three centres that we have in Safdarjung hospital, the vaccination rates were very low. Now, due to the Omicron variant, people are once again realising the importance of vaccines. The rate of second doses have increased. Human psychology is such that fear drives action and compels people to take preventive measures,” he said.