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Delhi to begin Covid jabs for front line staff on trial basis from Thursday
New Delhi: Delhi saw its lowest ever Covid-19 vaccination turnout percentage on Wednesday, with fewer than half of the day’s targeted health care workers getting jabs, even as the state government decided to open up the inoculation programme for frontline workers on a trial basis from Thursday
New Delhi: Delhi saw its lowest ever Covid-19 vaccination turnout percentage on Wednesday, with fewer than half of the day’s targeted health care workers getting jabs, even as the state government decided to open up the inoculation programme for frontline workers on a trial basis from Thursday.
Of the 18,300 health workers who were due to get a jab of either Covaxin or Covishield on Wednesday, only 7,365 turned up on a day the government significantly ramped up the number of vaccination centres.
So far, of 240,000 health workers who are registered for vaccination in Delhi, 81,258 have been administered their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
The government on Tuesday scaled up the number of vaccination sites from 106 to 183. Vaccines will now be administered six days a week, up from four earlier, the state administration had announced on Monday.
Delhi, on Wednesday, recorded a turnout of 40.25% which, according to government records, is the lowest since January 16 when the vaccination drive was launched.
The city also recorded 17 adverse effects following immunisation (AEFI) on Wednesday, none of which were reported to be severe, said officials.
Till Wednesday, the lowest turnout was recorded on the second day of the drive (January 18) at 44.2% and the highest on sixth day (January 25) at 91.5%. During that phase, Delhi had 81 vaccination centres.
Government officials and experts attributed the decline in turn-out to a lack of awareness among beneficiaries about the new centres, adding that several other facilities may hit their vaccination saturation points.
Delhi government spokespersons did not comment on the turnout on Wednesday.
Suneela Garg, director professor of community medicines department at Maulana Azad Medical College in Delhi and member of the Lancet Covid-19 commission and vaccination task force for India, said: “At this point, the aim should be to strengthen last-mile reach out. People across priority groups who want to get vaccinated at the earliest should get the opportunity to do so. This will also contribute to confidence building among other beneficiaries. The turnout figures would naturally go up again.”
On Wednesday, surveillance teams started sending text messages to registered frontline workers informing them about their time slots and session site locations for taking the shots against Covid-19, even as a few centres informally did a pilot-run on Tuesday allowing registered frontline workers for vaccination for out-of-turn jabs on a walk-in basis.
“The trial run for vaccination of frontline workers starts on Thursday, with at least two vaccine centres in each of the 11 revenue districts. We plan to start it full-fledged by February 6. The frontline workers will be eligible for shots in the same centres where health workers are being vaccinated. This is the reason why overall capacity for vaccination was scaled up. Registered front line workers will also be allowed for out-of-turn jabs, similar to the policy adopted for health workers. The trial run will help in further decision-making,” said a senior government official who did not wish to be identified.
Frontline workers include police officials, fire officials, municipal staff, sanitation workers, school teachers and staff across all departments and agencies which were engaged in Covid-19 management. They are the second-priority group for Covid-19 vaccination across India.
Delhi has an estimated 600,000 front line workers, of which around 350,000 have registered for vaccination so far, said data shared by senior government officials who added that the registration drive for frontline workers is underway. Last week, the Union government told states to consider starting vaccination for front line workers by the first week of February.
