Over 9,700 people get Covid vaccine shots, turnout 54%
New Delhi: More than 9,700 healthcare workers received COVID-19 vaccine shots in Delhi on Monday in the fourth week of the inoculation drive, with a turnout of over 54 per cent.
Besides healthcare workers, frontline workers, who include, police, civil defence staff, DJB and electricity department employees, among others, are also getting jabs since the last couple of days.
Also, the number of scheduled days, from initially being four days — Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday — have now been extended to six days a week, Monday-Saturday.
After a sluggish start, since the exercise was kicked off January 16, the inoculation drive had picked up pace in the last several days.
The targeted number for vaccination on February 8 was 18,000, officials said.
"Today, 9,740 people were administered coronavirus vaccine, and AEFI (adverse events following immunisation) was reported in 11 persons," a senior official of the Delhi Health Department said.
On the previous day of the vaccination drive, 9,510 healthcare workers had got the jabs, with a turnout of about 50 per cent.
The number of people vaccinated against COVID-19 till date in Delhi, majority of them being healthcare workers, has crossed the one lakh-mark, officials said on Saturday.
Under the nationwide mega vaccination drive launched on January 16, a total of 4,319 (53 per cent) health workers against a target of 8,117, were administered the shots at 81 centres across the city on day one.
On the second scheduled day, the figures had stood at 3,598 (44 per cent of the target). The sharp fall had come after one severe and 50 minor adverse effect cases were reported, on the opening day of the vaccination drive.
The count on third schedule day was much higher, at 4,936 (48 per cent).
Various reasons were being attributed to the low turnout in the initial days, including some technical issues and apprehensions related to adverse events.
However, the government has maintained that no case of serious/severe AEFI is attributable to vaccination till date.
Oxford COVID-19 vaccine Covishield is being administered at majority of the centres while Bharat Biotech-made Covaxin doses given at the remaining facilities. The Delhi government had taken measures like counselling and formal phone calls to raise the percentage of healthcare workers turning up for being administered COVID-19 vaccine.
Meanwhile, Delhi recorded 125 fresh COVID-19 cases on Monday, while the death toll rose to 10,882 with three more fatalities, even as the positivity rate stood at 0.23 per cent. The 125 new cases came out of the 55,390 tests conducted the previous day. The positivity rate stood at 0.23 per cent, according to a bulletin issued by the Delhi health department. The infection tally in the city rose to 6,36,160 and the death toll mounted to 10,882 with three new fatalities, authorities said.
