Delhi looking to start vaccinating those below 45 by Apr 15: Sources
New Delhi: Delhi is expected to see the beginning of the next phase of the COVID-19 vaccination programme by April 15 — for people under the age of 45, several senior officials of the Delhi government have now confirmed to Millennium Post.
One of these officials, from the Health Department, confirmed the same and added that vaccine centres will not be shut during any of the upcoming holidays for the next two months at the least.
The official also said that the state government is ready with an action plan to vaccinate the masses within a month if adequate numbers of doses are provided by the Central government.
"We are now looking out for the new strain of viruses and protecting the masses against it is our priority along with speeding up the vaccination process," the senior official said.
"The homegrown cells are not a problem, it is the cases of UK strain and South Africa strain that the officials are
monitoring while working on a plan to curb the spread of the new variant," the young official said.
The government will work on spreading and encouraging covid appropriate behavior even among those who have been vaccinated. "Vaccine will not be effective if people stop wearing masks," the official added.
The senior official also said that officials are not considering lockdown as an option at all while Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has appealed to the Centre to scale up the
ongoing vaccination drive along with encouraging people to maintain social distancing and wear masks.
"Between April 15 and May 15, we are ready to inoculate the mass if permission and doses are provided by the Centre," one other official said. The Delhi government has been appealing to the Centre to allow it to use community centres and schools for mass vaccination. District Magistrates have also started identifying such facilities under their jurisdictions.
Meanwhile, the Health Department had issued an order directing authorities to "optimally utilise" all vaccination centres in public and private sectors.
"In view of the surge in COVID-19 cases in states and union territories, it has been decided to optimally to utilise all COVID vaccination centres (CVCs) in public and private sector to ensure a rapid increase in the pace and coverage of Covid-19 vaccination," stated the order.
Delhi has seen a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases in the last few weeks with the positivity rate jumping from a little above 1 per cent in early February to over 4 per cent by the end of March.
