Delhi Govt Lays Out COVID-19 Vaccination Rollout Plan, 51 Lakh To Get The Vaccine In 1st Phase
Around three lakhs frontline health workers will be among those who will be receiving the COVID-19 in the first phase of the rollout in the national capital, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said.?
He said that the Delhi government is fully prepared to receive, store and give Covid-19 vaccine to priority category persons in the city in the first phase of vaccination.
He said his government is all set to start the vaccination drive as soon as it gets the vaccine from the Centre, and registration is underway for people in three priority categories who will receive it first.
51 lakh priority category persons
"There are a 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," the chief minister said at a virtual press briefing.
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, he said.
Currently, there is storage capacity for 74 lakh doses, and it will be scaled up to 1.15 crore within a week, Kejriwal said.
Each person in priority categories is being registered to receive the vaccine. They will be informed through SMS and other means whenever their turn for vaccination arrives, the chief minister said.
Staff, officials also identified
The necessary staff, officials and health workers have also been identified and trained for the vaccination drive. The sites where vaccination will be carried out is also being readied, he said.
The COVID-19 situation in Delhi has improved significantly in the past few days, but all eyes are set on when the vaccine will be available and people will get rid of the virus, Kejriwal added.
Meanwhile, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) based in New Delhi on Thursday invited volunteers for the Phase III clinical trial of the indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine candidate 'Covaxin' for which it is one of the sites.
"AIIMS, New Delhi is a site for COVAXIN Phase III clinical trial. This is a whole-virion inactivated vaccine co-sponsored by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Bharat Biotech," AIIMS said in an advertisement.
AIIMS Centre for Community Medicine, Dr Sanjay K Rai informed through the advertisement that Phase I/II trials (safety and immunogenicity) have already been completed.
The last date of enrolment is December 31, 2020.
Earlier, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on December 19 had said that country's scientists and health experts have worked on the development of an indigenous vaccine and in the upcoming six to seven months India will have the capacity to inoculate about 30 crore people.
