The Delhi government is fully prepared to receive, store and give Covid-19 vaccine to priority category persons in the city during the first phase of vaccination, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday.

Kejriwal said that his government is all set to start the vaccination drive as soon as it gets its from the Central government. He said that registration is underway for people in three priority categories (decided by Central government) who will receive it first.

His remarks on preparedness come at a time when State governments across the country are gearing up to inoculate people once the vaccines for Covid-19 gets due approval from the regulatory body.

At a virtual press briefing, Kejriwal said that there are total of 51 lakh priority category persons in Delhi — three lakh health workers, six lakh frontline workers and 42 lakh of those aged above 50 and those below 50 but having co-morbidities.

Also read: 64 envoys visit Bharat Biotech, Biological Evans facilities

He said that each person will be given two doses, and a total of 1.02 crore doses will be required in the first phase of vaccination in Delhi to vaccinate these priority category persons.

Storage of vaccine

Kejriwal said there will be storage capacity for 74 lakh doses, and it will be scaled up to 1.15 crore within a week.

The Chief Minister said that each person in priority categories, who are being registered, will be informed through SMS and other means when their turn for vaccination arrives. Specialists are also being put in place to handle any situation of side effects that may arise from vaccination.

Also read: Third wave of Covid-19 in Delhi now under control: Arvind Kejriwal

It may be recalled that so far Pfizer vaccine developed by the US company and its German partner BioNTech and another candidate developed by Moderna have sought emergency authorisation approval from Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO). Also, the Serum Institute of India (SII), which is manufacturing and testing the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in India, has already submitted its application for an emergency use licence.

Published on December 24, 2020