Coronavirus Vaccination in Delhi: The Covid-19 vaccination drive will be inaugurated by PM Modi (File)
Delhi is all set to roll-out the COVID-19 vaccines tomorrow at 81 centres and healthcare workers, who have been at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic, will be the ones to receives the shots first.
The inoculation drive will begin from the state-run LNJP Hospital with a simple ceremony in the presence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain.
India's drugs regulator has approved Oxford COVID-19 vaccine Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute, and Bharat Biotech's indigenously developed Covaxin for restricted emergency use in the country.
Various hospitals, both government-run and private facilities, are also geared up for the roll-out. From Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) in North Delhi to Apollo Hospital in south Delhi, hospital authorities said they were all set for the exercise, with two dry-runs already done in the past several days.
"Vaccination will commence after the nationwide inauguration of COVID-19 vaccination programme by the prime minister, and it will include 100 healthcare workers, including a mix of doctors, nurses and paramedical staff," said Dr DS Rana, Chairman (Board of Management), SGRH.
Delhi has recorded over 6.31 lakh COVID-19 cases and 10,722 coronavirus deaths till Thursday, of which 6,17,930 patients have recovered, been discharged or migrated.
Here's all you need to know about the innoculation drive in Delhi:
Who Will Be Vaccinated First?
Frontline healthcare workers will be the first to receive the vaccine shots in Delhi.
The Delhi government is fully prepared to receive, store and administer COVID-19 vaccine to 51 lakh priority category persons in the city in the first phase of vaccination, Mr Kejriwal had earlier said.
These include healthcare workers, who will be first to receive, followed by frontline workers, people aged above 50 and those below 50 years but with co-morbidities, he added.
Where Can You Get Vaccinated?
Vaccination will be carried out at 81 sites in Delhi, including six central government facilities -- AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital, RML Hospital, Kalawati Saran Children Hospital and two ESI hospitals.
The remaining 75 centres across 11 districts of Delhi, include Delhi government-run facilities such as LNJP Hospital, GTB Hospital, Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital, DDU Hospital, BSA Hospital, Delhi State Cancer Institute, ILBS Hospital, and private facilities such as Max Hospital, Fortis Hospital, Apollo Hospital and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
The Oxford COVID-19 vaccine Covishield will be administered at 75 centres while Bharat Biotech's Covaxin doses will be given at the remaining six facilities, a senior official had said on Thursday.
However, he did not name the facilities that will be given the indigenously developed Covaxin and which will be given Oxford vaccine.
How Many Vaccine Doses Have Delhi Received So Far?
Arvind Kejriwal has said the Delhi government is fully prepared for the vaccination roll-out starting tomorrow and over 8,000 healthcare workers will be administered the shots every scheduled day in the national capital.
Delhi has received 2.74 lakh doses of the vaccine so far from the Centre, which would be sufficient to cater to 1.2 lakh healthcare workers, he said.
"Everyone will receive two doses, and the Centre has given 10 per cent extra in stock, in case of any mishappening, like vial damage. There are 2.4 lakh healthcare workers in Delhi who have registered for the vaccination, and more doses are expected to arrive soon," he said.
The first batch of Oxford Covishield vaccine containing 2.64 lakh doses had reached Delhi's central storage facility at Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH) on Tuesday.
Also, 20,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin made by Bharat Biotech had arrived at the RGSSH on Wednesday, officials said on Thursday, adding that the vaccine had been sent to various centres, but did not specify on the quantum of doses transported there.
How Will The Vaccination Exercise Be Carried Out?
Dr Suneela Garg, public health expert and professor of excellence at Maulana Azad Medical College in Delhi said the roll-out system will work similar to an electoral exercise.
"Those who have registered themselves, will get an SMS message ahead of the actual day of vaccination, telling about the location of the centre and the date of vaccination," she said.
"At every site, one officer will check details and match it with those shown on CoWIN app for people, following which the necessary documents will be checked and then they will be taken one by one for vaccination," she said.
There will be a nodal officer at each vaccination centre, which will have a waiting room, a vaccination room and an observation room, and social distancing rules will be followed.
COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network or CoWIN app and its ecosystem will be used to manage and scale up the massive vaccination drive.
Everything will be fed to the database in real-time. Also, a person after being vaccinated will be kept under observation for any AEFI (adverse events following immunisation), Dr Garg said.
On Which Days Can You Get Vaccinated?
The vaccine will be administered on four days of the week, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Other regular vaccination work will be carried out on the remaining days.
Each day 100 people will be administered the vaccine at a site, Arvind Kejriwal said and hoped the people of Delhi and the rest of the country will finally get rid of the virus after all the hardships in the past several months.
How Much Would It Cost You?
The AAP government has announced that the vaccine will be provided to the people of Delhi free-of-cost. The immunisation exercise is voluntary.