Delhi out of Covishield stock, many vaccine centers shut today
Delhi has run out of its Covishield vaccine stock, forcing several government-run coronavirus vaccination centers to remain closed today. The news was on Monday confirmed by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia even as he slammed the central government for the poor supply of vaccines. Besides Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Maharashtra have also flagged the issue of vaccine shortage in recent days.
'Why is our country's vaccination program still faltering?'
"Vaccines have run out in Delhi again. The central government gives vaccines for a day or two, then we have to keep the vaccine centers closed for several days. Why is our country's vaccination program faltering even after so many days?" Sisodia tweeted yesterday.
Here is the tweet by Sisodia
Only 36K vaccine doses given in Delhi on Monday
Until 10 pm on Monday, only 36,310 vaccine doses could be administered in Delhi as against around 1.5 lakh daily doses that were being administered on an average earlier, NDTV reported. In fact, daily vaccinations across the country have dipped significantly since hitting a record of 85 lakh on June 21, when a new vaccination policy was launched.
What is the new vaccination policy?
Under the new vaccination policy, jabs are being given to all adults for free. The central government is procuring 75% of all the vaccines and providing them to states free of cost. Private hospitals, meanwhile, continue to procure the remaining 25%.
Daily vaccinations dropped dramatically since June 21
According to the data available on the Co-WIN platform, 61.14 lakh average daily vaccines were administered between June 21 and June 27. That figure dropped to 41.92 lakh daily doses the next week ending July 4. The following week ending July 11, average daily doses further dropped to 34.32 lakh. India has administered over 38 crore vaccine doses so far.
Only 5.5% population is fully vaccinated yet
Even though over 22% of Indians have received at least one vaccine shot, just around 5.5% have been fully inoculated as yet. The Centre, nonetheless, plans to vaccinate all adults by the end of this year.
India's coronavirus situation
India had faced the world's worst coronavirus outbreak earlier this year, but the situation has since improved. The country has been reporting around 40,000 cases in the past few days. However, experts have warned that a third wave could hit India soon. The Indian Medical Association on Monday said the third wave is "imminent" and we must not lower our guard against COVID-19.
