The Delhi Government on Wednesday said that the city administration will get Sputnik V vaccine soon. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the manufacturers of the vaccine have agreed to supply the Russian anti-Covid vaccine to Delhi, though the quantity is yet to be decided.
“Talks with the makers of Sputnik V are on. They will give us vaccines, but the quantity is yet to be decided. Our officials and the representatives of the vaccine manufacturers met on Tuesday, too,” Kejriwal confirmed during his visit to Akash Hospital in Dwarka.
Sharing his concerns over the black fungus cases in the Capital, he said, “600 cases have been reported so far and Delhi has a shortage of Amphotericin-B injections used in its treatment.”
While inaugurating the Capital’s first drive-through vaccination facility at Vegas Mall in Dwarka, Kejriwal said that the only difficulty was that of vaccination supply. “There is an acute shortage of vaccines, especially for those between 18-44 years of age. The Government has provided Covishield for those above 45 years, which will last for a few days. I hope the Central Government is making efforts to give Delhi the maximum number of vaccines as soon as possible. The speed of inoculation has reduced as the centres have closed, not just in Delhi, but across the country. Ideally, this would have been the time when we should have increased the number of centres, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Therefore, I hope vaccines are supplied on a war footing soon.”
He added, “We have already written, more than once, that Delhi needs 80 lakh vaccines per month, but the paucity of shots remains a constant challenge. The lockdown cannot be extended indefinitely. People’s livelihood is suffering, their businesses are shutting down -- we will have to see how much unlocking can happen. But if we were to connect it to the inoculation process, we do not know how long the vaccines will take to arrive.”
He added, “In my view, there are just two-three such drive-through vaccination centres. One is in Chhatrasal, which will open on Saturday and some others will open in the private sector. Please note that we can open as many centres as possible, but we need to have enough vaccines in stock. Here, at the Vegas Mall, vaccines are free for the underprivileged but will be paid otherwise.”
