Sputnik V likely to arrive in city this June, says CM

New Delhi: Delhi is likely to receive its first consignment of Sputnik V, the Russian COVID-19 vaccine, in June, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday as he inaugurated the Delhi government's first free vaccination centre for the city's journalists and their families at the Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya at DDU Marg in ITO.

The chief minister, all the while steadfast that the responsibility to procure vaccines squarely fell on the Centre's shoulders, said on Monday they had stil gone ahead with their talks to get Sputnik V.

He said that the first consignment is likely to be imported by the concerned firm after June 20.

"Sputnik will probably offer vaccines after June 20. They will start the vaccine production from the month of August. They are importing the vaccines right now, and they will allot a section of their imported vaccines to the Delhi government," he said.

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has granted permission for restricted emergency use of Sputnik V with certain conditions. Dr Reddy's Laboratories will import the vaccine in the country.

Meanwhile, the CM went on to urge all journalists in the city to get themselves inoculated at the newly-launched centre in the heart of the city. He said the facility will allow walk-in registrations for scribes and their families and will have no age restrictions. "We have started this vaccination facility for journalists and their families. There was a demand from journalists to start a special vaccination facility for them. The vaccines are being administered to those who are in the 18-44 age group as well as those aged above 45.

"I urge all journalists to come in large numbers and get vaccinated. You can protect yourself from coronavirus only through vaccination," he told reporters.

CM Kejriwal also said that given that Covaxin for the 18-44 age category is over at government-run centres, whenever the next stock for this age group comes in, those scheduled for their second dose will be prioritised.

Delhi received fresh stock of Covaxin and Covishield for the 45 plus age group on Sunday, AAP MLA Atishi said, and lamented that vaccination for the youth at government centres has been shut for more than a week owing to lack of jabs for this category. Issuing the vaccination bulletin, Atishi said they received over 25,000 doses of Covaxin and over 83,000 doses of Covishield on Sunday.

"This means, now we have four days of Covaxin and 20 days of Covishield stock in Delhi for the 45 plus age group, frontline workers and healthcare workers.

"Covaxin will only be used to administer the second dose to those who had been administered the first dose. There were many people who were inoculated with the first dose more than a month back and were waiting for the second dose," she said.