Delhi COVID-19 vaccination drive – Take a look at CM Arvind Kejriwal’s plan to roll out the vaccine

New Delhi, Jan 14 () Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said the Delhi government is fully prepared for the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out starting January 16, with over 8,000 healthcare workers to be immunised every scheduled day in the city. Addressing an online media briefing, he said the city government has received a total of 2.74 lakh doses of the vaccine so far from the Centre, which would be sufficient to cater to 1.2 lakh healthcare workers.

"Every person will receive two doses, and the Centre has given 10 per cent extra in stock in case of any mishappening like damage of vials. There are a total of 2.4 lakh healthcare workers in Delhi who have registered for vaccination, and more doses are expected to arrive soon," he said.

Vaccination will begin on Saturday across several centres, whose number now stands at 81 centres, and this number will be increased after a few days to 175 and finally to 1,000 centres, the chief minister said.

The vaccine will be administered on four days of the week - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. It will not be given on Sunday and two others days of the week, when other regular vaccination work will be carried out.

Each day 100 people will be administered the vaccine, he said and hoped people will finally get rid of the virus after facing hardships for the past many months.

Ahead of the media interaction, Kejriwal took a review meeting on the vaccination roll-out plan of the Delhi government.

He said he has taken stock of the situation and all the teams are ready for the COVID-19 vaccination programme, and people of Delhi are also ready for this exercise.

"People are in distress due to corona for the last one year and I hope and pray to God that the people of Delhi, of the country, and the world at large will be able to get relief after the vaccine comes," Kejriwal added.

The vaccination roll-out will be kicked off from the LNJP Hospital on January 16 with a simple ceremony in the presence of the chief minister and Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, sources earlier said.

The first batch of Oxford Covishield vaccine containing 2.64 lakh doses reached the Delhi's central storage facility at Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH) on Tuesday amid high security, officials earlier said.

Amid a three-layer security cover, 20,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin made by Bharat Biotech, also arrived at the RGSSH, on Wednesday, official said.

Vaccines have been sent to various centres at district level, officials said on Thursday, but they did not specify how many doses in total have been sent there.

Sources on Wednesday had said that the number of vaccination centres in Delhi had been revised to 75 from 89 planned originally. The number has been further revised to 81.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Sadarjung Hospital, LNJP Hospital, GTB Hospital, Apollo Hospitals and Max Hospital will be among the vaccination centres here.

India's drugs regulator has approved Oxford COVID-19 vaccine Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute, and indigenously developed Covaxin of Bharat Biotech for restricted emergency use in the country. KND VIT KJ KJ