Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had earlier flagged a shortage of vaccines.
New Delhi:
Delhi has enough Covaxin to last only a day and Covishield enough for around four days, the state government has said in an SOS to the Centre.
“There is only one day of Covaxin left in Delhi and only three to four days of Covishield. We need vaccines at the earliest,” Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said today.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had earlier flagged a shortage of vaccines, pointing out that people from neighbouring areas like Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurgaon were also driving to Delhi for Covid shots.
This month, as vaccinations were opened to all adults, the Centre’s new vaccine policy kicked in, under which states and private hospitals can directly buy vaccines from the makers.
Vaccine manufacturers like Bharat Biotech (Covaxin) and Serum Institute of India (Covishield) are to sell half their doses to the Centre at lower prices and the other half to states and private hospitals at higher prices.
But states have only received their quota from the Centre; vaccine manufacturers say it will take more time to supply to states and private hospitals.
Mr Kejriwal has said that in Delhi, almost half the two crore population is in the 18 to 45 age group and therefore eligible for vaccines. Some 50 lakh are above 45.
“We need 3 crore doses for 1.5 crore people,” Mr Kejriwal said.
“We have received roughly 50 lakh doses so far. Therefore, we need about 2.5 crore additional doses, but we are unable to receive supplies as per our requirement,” Mr Kejriwal said in a letter to the Centre on Sunday.
According to the Chief Minister, Delhi needs 83 lakh doses per month to vaccinate everyone above 18 years of age in the next three months.