Delhi needs 26m more doses to complete vaccination: Kejriwal

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that the Delhi administration needs three crore COVID-19 vaccine doses to administer all residents above the age of 18 within three months.

"If we get adequate vaccine doses, we can complete vaccination within 3 months. There're 1.5 crore people above 18 years of age in Delhi so we need 3 crore doses.

Out of this, the Delhi government has got only 40 lakh doses so far. The CM said, currently, it is inoculating 1 lakh people in a day but the government is planning to increase it to 3 lakh people every day. "A lot of people from neighbouring cities - Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Sonipat, Gurgaon, Noida - are coming to Delhi to get their Covid shots because they're liking the arrangements here. But we do not have enough vaccines. If we get doses in the right quantity, we can vaccinate the entire national capital in three months," he said.

He further said that Delhi is vaccinating people in the age group of 18-44 in about 100 schools for now. This number will be increased to 250-300.

"If Delhi government is given 80-85 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine per month, then we can vaccinate 3 lakh people daily. As of now, we are have arranged vaccination drive in 100 schools and incoming days it will be increased to 250-300," Kejriwal said.

He also said that to scale up the process and efficiently vaccinate everybody, the Delhi government needs 80-85 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine per month, to complete vaccination within three months.

"I request Central government to ensure adequate availability of vaccines to Delhi," said CM Arvind Kejriwal.

Delhi CM also said that the Principal Scientific Advisor of Prime Minister has also warned that there can be a third wave and vaccine is the only weapon to protect people from the third wave.

"We're especially worried about children because they can't be vaccinated now. I appeal to experts and the central govt to bring vaccines for children as soon as possible. We have 5-6 days of vaccine left in Delhi, vaccination is going on in full swing," he added.

Meanwhile, Delhi recorded 19,832 fresh COVID-19 cases and 341 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the Delhi government's health bulletin on Friday.