Delhi sounds alarm of depleting vaccine stock

Delhi on Monday sounded an alert of its depleting vaccine stock, with Health Minister Satyendar Jain saying that the national capital has only one day's Covaxin jabs left and its Covishield doses will last for just three to four days.

Later in the day, Aam Aadmi Party leader Atishi said the Delhi government will have to close vaccination centres where Covaxin is being administered to beneficiaries in the 18-44 age group after Tuesday evening if its stocks are not replenished.

"On Monday morning, Delhi had 2.74 lakh vaccine doses for people in the 18-plus category," she said, releasing the city's 'Vaccination Bulletin'.

"After Tuesday evening, the Delhi government will have to start closing down the vaccination centres where Covaxin is being administered (to the 18-44 age group). We will also have to shut down Covishield inoculation centres after four days," she said.

Delhi has so far received 5.5 lakh doses of coronavirus vaccines for the 18-44 category, and over 43 lakh doses for 45-plus, and healthcare and frontline workers, according to government data released on Sunday.

"Covaxin doses can last up to one day only, while Covishield doses can last up to three to four days," Jain told reporters after reviewing preparations at Guru Teg Bahadur COVID Care Centre at Gurudwara Rakab Ganj Sahib in central Delhi.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia claimed the BJP government at the Centre has allowed only 3.5 lakh doses of coronavirus vaccine for the national capital in May even though the AAP dispensation had placed orders for 1.34 crore doses with manufacturers.

The Bharatiya Janata Party is practising politics of 'lies and deception' and falsely accusing the Delhi government of ordering 5.5 lakh vaccine doses only, he charged.

Sisodia, who is a senior leader of ruling AAP in Delhi attacked the Centre, hours after BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said the Kejriwal government was busy in advertising instead of pushing the vaccination programme in time.

The two parties indulged in a war of words over vaccine availability.

Sisodia that after the Centre decided in April that states can directly tie up with vaccine manufacturers, the Arvind Kejriwal government ordered 1.34 crore doses to vaccinate people in the 18-44 age group in the city.

"Later, the central government in a letter told us that we can have only around 3.5 lakh doses in May," he claimed showing letters of the Delhi government to vaccine manufacturers and that from Union Health Ministry to it.

Sisodia lashed out at the BJP, saying its government was selling vaccines abroad when people were dying in the country.

He charged the BJP government with holding Kumbh Mela and conducting assembly polls amid the second wave of COVID-19 and alleged that it was more interested in selling vaccines abroad instead of providing it to state governments.

Patra said that Kejriwal had claimed on April 26 that his government would order 1.34 crore vaccines, which is worth nearly Rs 1,400 crore.

"Today, he's saying he has nothing. Only 8.93 per cent people over 45 years have got their second dose in Delhi. Only 48.03 per cent people over 60 years have received their first dose. Only 17 per cent people over 60 years have received second dose," he said.

Sisodia hit back at the BJP, saying vaccines are the need of the hour, not 'sly politics' of its government based on 'lies and deception'.

"At a time when the whole nation was suffering from COVID-19, the central government turned a blind eye to the needs of the people of our nation, and exported 6.5 crore doses of vaccine to countries abroad," he said in a digital press briefing.

Delhi on Monday reported 319 more COVID-19 fatalities and 12,651 new infections, the lowest in four weeks, with a positivity rate of 19.10 percent, the Health Department said.

The dip in new cases, the lowest since April 12, can also be ascribed to a smaller number of tests (66,234) conducted on Sunday.

At 19.10 per cent, the positivity rate is the lowest since April 16, when it stood at 19.7 percent, according to government data.

The positivity rate has remained above the 20 per cent mark since April 17.