Vaccination / Delhi fully resumes COVID-19 vaccination for 18-44 age group after getting new stock

New Delhi: The Capital on Wednesday received fresh stocks of Covid-19 vaccines for those in the 18-45 age group, said Atishi, the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) MLA from Kalkaji, as the city administration reopened bookings on the Co-WIN portal for all its inoculation centres a day after shutting over half of them owing to a shortage of doses.

Presenting the day’s vaccination bulletin, Atishi said Delhi was in a comfortable position in terms of vaccine stock. She said the Delhi government has Covaxin doses for the 18-45 category for six days and Covishield vaccines for 11 days. Covaxin doses for the 45+category will last for seven days, while Covishield stocks are sufficient for 42 days.

On Tuesday, nearly half the vaccination centres for the 18-45 age group were shut for want of vaccines. As on Wednesday, Delhi has 161 operational centres for the 18-45 category and 581 for those aged 45 and above.

“We have received 62,160 doses of Covaxin and 173,340 doses of Covishield. Till date, we have received a total of 1.27 million doses for young adults... Starting today (Wednesday), slots are available on the Co-WIN portal for the 18-45 age group as well,” she said.

Atishi also said that the Delhi government has been unable to run its vaccination drive at the pace it planned due to a shortage of doses. “The only way to remove vaccine hesitancy is to vaccinate the youth. When the youth go to get vaccinated, they will also bring along their family members,” she said.

Senior government officials said they are hoping that supplies will stabilise once the central government starts providing free doses to all states and Union territories from June 21. “But, there is not much clarity yet. We have not received any indication on when we will receive the free doses for the 18-45 category and in what quantity,” said a state government official who asked not to be named.

The Centre already provides free vaccines to all states to inoculate those aged 45 years and above, while private hospitals offer paid vaccines to all groups.