New Delhi Forced to Shut Down 125 Vaccination Centres After Running Out of Jabs
by Deexa Khanduri
According to Delhi State Chief Arvind Kejriwal, they have only received 40 million doses of coronavirus vaccines. However, they need 260 million more to inoculate the entire population.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government has confirmed that it was forced to close 125 vaccination centres for those in the 18-44 age group as the city had run out of vaccine supplies.
Sources in the Delhi government have confirmed that as of Wednesday morning the city administration has not received any more vaccines from the federal government.
दिल्ली में नहीं है कोवेक्सीन, ये है दिल्ली का अटल आदर्श मोती बाग सेंटर। @ArvindKejriwal @ManojTiwariMP pic.twitter.com/GohbSKuTg1
— Aamir (@nn_aamir) May 12, 2021
"For healthcare and frontline workers, and those above 45 years, only five days' stock of Covaxin and four days' worth of Covishield is left. A total of 139,261 people were vaccinated on Tuesday, the highest to date in Delhi… The Delhi government demands of the centre that since the capital has faced the harshest COVID-induced hardships, vaccines should be made readily available in sufficient quantities… we are forced to halt the vaccination programme", Delhi government spokesperson Atishi Marlena told reporters.
Delhi State Chief Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking that COVID vaccine formulas be shared with other manufacturers so that production can be scaled up. Currently, two manufacturers — the Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech are producing vaccines in India.
On Tuesday, Delhi reported 12,481 cases, the lowest in a month. In addition, 347 deaths were recorded, bringing the death toll to 20,010.
India has reported 348,421 new COVID-19 cases and at least 4,205 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry. The total caseload has crossed 23 million, with more than 254,197 lives having been lost since the onset of the pandemic.