Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said his government had made all preparations for the Covid-19 vaccination programme that rolls out across India from Saturday and that he had reviewed the situation. Delhi had received 2.74 lakh vaccines from the Centre, of which 1.2 lakh will be used for health care workers. Up to 2.4 lakh such personnel have, in all, registered for inoculation against the coronavirus, he said.
Each individual receives two doses of the vaccine, according to the schedule.
The state government will roll out vaccination at 81 centres and progressively increase it to 175, and then to 1,000 centres, Mr Kejriwal said today in a public address. At each of these centres, up to 100 vaccines will be administered. The inoculation will be done on four days in a week - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. "The rest of the days will be left for other vaccinations. We do not want the vaccination schedules for other illnesses to suffer due to this," Mr Kejriwal said.
"We hope we will receive more vaccines as per our requirement," the Chief Minister said. "People have been suffering for a year. I hope now, with the arrival of the vaccine, there will be relief."
The national capital on Wednesday reported 357 new Covid-19 cases and 11 deaths, the Delhi health department has informed. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had said that up to 36 government hospitals and 53 private hospitals will have a vaccination site each.
The Delhi police has made security arrangements in the city for the smooth transportation of the vaccines, officials said on Tuesday. The first batch of Covishield vaccine reached Delhi's central storage facility at Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital on Tuesday amid high security, they said.