Delhi has reached a stage of saturation in its covid-19 Immunization drive as most beneficiaries have taken their shots, with the number of doses administered taping over the last two weeks.
“There are two major reasons for the number of vaccines administered each day dipping — one, we have already reached a saturation for many of the categories such as the first dose being administered to over 100% of the estimated population, second dose to over 80 %, and first dose to over 75% of the children. Second, when it comes to precaution doses, most people who are eligible were infected during the current Covid-19 wave and cannot take their shot for three months as per guidelines,” said an official from Delhi’s health department.
There were 56,920 shots administered on an average every day during the current week. In comparison, 90,017 doses were given during the previous week ending on January 23, and 1,48,096 on average during the week ending on January 16, according to data from the CoWIN platform.
In fact, the number was higher — 1,50,023 shots on average — during the week ending on January 9 before the drive was thrown open for a third “precaution dose” for healthcare and frontline workers, and those over the age of 60 years with co-morbidities. The average for the week before that — December 27 to January 2 before the drive was opened for children between the ages of 15 and 17 years — was slightly lower at an average 1,26,114 every day.
Keeping in mind the decline in vaccinations, the districts have “optimised” their vaccination centres. “No vaccination center has been closed, but we have reduced the number of sites at each premises. This will ensure that vaccines are available to people close to their home but also save on our manpower. At centers where we used to see between 1,500 to 2,000 vaccinations, we see around 250,” said an official from the Northwest district.
Delhi immunised 69,633 persons by Saturday evening, taking the total number of shots given to 29.5 million. So far, 16.1 million first doses have been administered to adults, accounting for 107% of the estimated 15 million population over the age of 18 years. There have been 12.3 second doses administered, accounting for 82% of the population.
The health department official said data shows more than 100% have received their first doses because of “duplication”. He said, “Some of the districts have given the first dose to 140% of the adult population. First of all, the total numbers are an estimate. Then, some of the people who were unable to register for their second dose have re-registered through other phone numbers which has been recorded as the first dose. We are now trying to reconcile this data.”
There have been 8.04 lakh vaccines given to the children between the ages of 15 and 17 years in Delhi so far. With an estimated 1.04 million children eligible for the shot, Delhi’s coverage stands at 77.4%.
As for those who are yet to take the shot, another official from the health department said, “They have either migrated to other places, have some contraindications such as allergies which make them inligible, or have had the infection recently.”
The official added, “As for precaution doses, not everyone has become eligible yet. It has to be nine months from the second dose, so people keep becoming eligible as per CoWIN slowly.”
There is a very miniscule percentage of people who have actually refused to take the shot, “probably less than 0.1%,” the official said. The official from Northwest district said only around 700 refusals were recorded in the district where 34 lakh jabs were administered.
There were 2.69 lakh precaution doses administered in Delhi till Saturday evening, adding up to 27.8% of those who will be eligible under the three categories of healthcare and frontline workers, and people over the age of 60 years with co-morbidities.
The second official quoted in the story said, “The numbers will pick up again in two days as the children who received their shot on January 3 will become eligible for their second dose.” The children were all administered Covaxin for which the duration between two shots in 28 days.
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