There was no free vaccination, either Covishield or Covaxin, for the 18-44 age group in Delhi government schools for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday, said AAP leader Atishi.
“This is the fourth day of no vaccination for 18-44 group in any of the government schools of Delhi. Both Covaxin and Covishield’s stock has ended for the youth. This is a cause of concern as youth was the only group which does not have any vaccine hesitancy and has been coming in large numbers to register themselves on CoWIN and getting vaccinated,” Ms. Atishi said.
There was no vaccine stock for the 18-44 age group for the fourth consecutive day, according to a bulletin by the government.
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Also, there is no stock of Covaxin left for vaccinating people of 45 years of age and above, healthcare, and front-line workers, as per the bulletin.
“Delhi has not received any new supply of vaccines yet. However, Bharat Biotech and SII, both have stated that the Central government will be designating the amount of vaccines being supplied to States. It is a request to the Centre to supply vaccines as Delhi has been facing a lot of adversities ever since the pandemic started,” Ms. Atishi said.
She said that fewer people are now being vaccinated daily and most of that too is happening in private hospitals, which are inoculating at “expensive rates” of ₹1,000 per dose. A lot of vaccines are available in the international market which have not been approved by the Centre yet, but are approved by the WHO, she said.
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“This includes vaccines like Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson. Even the World Health Organisation [WHO] has approved them, but the Centre hasn’t done that yet. The Centre must approve these vaccines on an emergency basis at the earliest, do large-scale import of them in the nation, and allow an increase in the manufacturing capacity of vaccines in India as well,” she added.