Arvind Kejriwal unveils Delhi COVID-19 vaccine rollout plan, says 51 lakh people to receive vaccine in 1st phase

New Delhi: CM Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that Delhi is fully prepared for the COVID-19 vaccination and that the Delhi government has made all arrangements to receive the vaccine from the Central government, its storage, and administering it to COVID patients.

He said that in the first phase, the vaccine will be given to 51 lakh people as earmarked by the central government in the priority lists, which include 3 lakh healthcare workers, 6 lakh frontline workers, and 42 lakh people either above 50 years of age or below 50 but with co-morbidities.

He said that one person will get two doses each, which means that 1,02,00,000 doses will be required to be administered to 51 lakh people. He also said that the Delhi government has the cold storage capacity for 74 lakh doses, but this storage capacity will increase to 1,15,00,000 doses in next 5-7 days. The vaccine will be administered to only those people whose registration has been done. Those people will be contacted via SMS and will be given full information regarding the vaccine rollout.

CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal said that the manpower and the number of teams that we require for the administration of the vaccine, such as officers and workers have been marked and trained for the task. Each team will have five people. He said that the Delhi government has made proper arrangements for the treatment of such patients such as the arrangement of doctors and adequate treatment methods, just in case there is some post-vaccine side-effects on a person.

Addressing a digital press briefing, CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal said, “There has been a significant decrease in daily deaths due to COVID-19, and we have to reduce it further. The recovery rate has also considerably increased and people who got infected are getting recovered and going back to their homes. But now, everyone is eyeing the vaccine. The Delhi government has made all arrangements for the administration of the vaccine to the Delhiites. The Delhi government is fully prepared to receive the vaccine from the Central government, its storage, and administering it to COVID patients.”

CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal said, “The central government has prepared three types of priority lists for the people who will be administered the vaccine because the production of the vaccine and the capacity will not be so much as to dispense the vaccine to the whole country. There are three priority areas - the first is healthcare workers such as doctors, nurses, paramedic staff, etc. There are around 3 lakh healthcare workers in Delhi. Second, frontline workers such as police officials, civil defense volunteers, and municipal workers. There are around 6 lakh frontline workers in Delhi. The third category is the people who are either above 50 years of age or are below 50 years of age and have some kind of co-morbidities, such as diabetes or heart-related issues. There are around 42 lakh people in Delhi with co-morbidities. This means that around 51 lakh people come in our priority categories as defined by the central government. These people have been marked and any work that is left will be completed soon.”

“One person will get two doses each, which means that 1,02,00,000 doses will be required to be administered to 51 lakh people. We have the cold storage capacity for 74 lakh doses, but this storage capacity will increase to 1,15,00,000 doses in next 5-7 days. This means that our storage capacity will adhere to the requirement that we have for 51 lakh people,” he added.

The registration process of the people included in the priority categories has started, and so the vaccine will be administered to only those people whose registration has been done. Those people will be contacted via SMS and will be given full information regarding the vaccine rollout. Arrangements are being made on behalf of the government to identify and mark sites and locations across Delhi, where these vaccines will be administered. “We have sufficient locations with us. The manpower and the number of teams that we require for the administration of the vaccine, such as officers and workers have been marked and they have all been trained for the task. Each team will have five people,” said the CM.

CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal said, “Just in case we come to know about some post-vaccine side-effects on a person, we have made proper arrangements for treatment of such patients such as the arrangement of doctors and adequate treatment methods. We are now eagerly waiting for approval of the vaccine in our country. As soon as we get the approval and as soon as Delhi gets the vaccine, we will be fully prepared to administer the vaccine to these priority groups.”

Earlier in the day, CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal chaired a meeting on the rolling out and administering of the vaccine in Delhi, wherein the health department officials gave a presentation on the preparedness of the plan. The officials apprised the CM that as per the guidelines of the central government, the healthcare workers, the frontline workers and people above 50 years of age, and people suffering from any serious illness are to be given the vaccine. The health department told the CM that the employees and officers involved in the vaccine team have been identified and trained.