New Delhi: Stating that Delhi is not getting an adequate amount of COVID-19 vaccines, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said if 2.6 crore vaccine doses are made available to the city government, every person in Delhi can get vaccinated, within three months.
Addressing a digital press conference, Kejriwal said, ‘Today a major obstacle we are facing is that of vaccine scarcity. If we get adequate doses, then as I have said repeatedly, we will be able to vaccinate the entire Delhi in three months. The people of Delhi want this, the Delhi Government wants this.’
‘Delhi’s population is 2 crores, more or less 1 crore people are in the age group of 18-45, 50 lakh are under 18, and 50 lakh are older than 45; so those above 18 are roughly 1.5 crore. These 1.5 crore people have to be given three crore vaccines, which is our requirement. From these 3 crore vaccines, the Delhi Government as of now has received approximately 40 lakh vaccines. Therefore we need 2 crore 60 lakh additional vaccines,’ the Delhi Chief Minister said.
Kejriwal said that in three months, around 2 crore 60 lakh vaccines are required, and more or less 80-85 lakh vaccines are needed per month for the next three months.
‘If 2 crore 60 lakh vaccines are made available to us, every person in Delhi can get vaccinated, within three months. To administer 80-85 lakh vaccines every month, we need to administer 3 lakh vaccines daily. Today, we are already administering 1 lakh vaccines in 100 schools. This will be increased to 300 schools. So we can easily increase our capacity to 3 lakh vaccines per day, there is no problem with this. Now that we have started the arrangements, we know how to proceed and are going to carry this out in the next few days,’ he said.
The Delhi Chief Minister requested the Central government to provide Delhi with the required amount of vaccines.
Kejriwal reiterated, ‘If we get the needed 80-85 lakh vaccine doses, then we can vaccinate the entire Delhi in the next 3 months. In fact, more than this will be necessary since people from the NCR — Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad — and other neighboring areas are coming to Delhi to get vaccinated. So, we will need even more vaccines than what I have already mentioned, but the minimum requirement of Delhi must be met with. Thus, I appeal to the Central Government that sufficient vaccines be made available to us.’
‘Today, in Delhi, approximately 1 lakh vaccines are being administered daily — around 50,000 to those below 45 and about 50,000 to those above 45. Thus, more or less 1 lakh vaccines are being administered daily in Delhi and many people from areas neighbouring Delhi — Faridabad, Gurgaon, Sonepat, Ghaziabad, Noida — are coming here to get vaccinated. They have also appreciated the arrangements made in Delhi,’ the Delhi Chief Minister said.
The Delhi Chief Minister further said that only vaccination can protect from the third wave of COVID-19.
‘We are particularly concerned about children. Youngsters and children under 18 cannot get vaccinated right now. I appeal to all experts and the Centre to arrange a vaccine for them too so that they can also get inoculated,’ he said.
‘As of today, we have 5-6 days of vaccine left that we are rapidly administering. I hope that the adequate vaccine is sanctioned for the people of Delhi as soon as possible,’ Mr Kejriwal said.
