Vaccination of youth of 18 to 44 years now available only in private hospitals: Atishi

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Dew Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s senior leader and MLA Atishi presented the vaccination bulletin through a video address on Wednesday and stated that on the third day in Delhi, the vaccination of youth remains absolutely closed in government schools due to no vaccines being facilitated by the centre. Vaccination of youth of 18 to 44 years is now being done only in private hospitals, a dose of vaccine is being priced in private between Rs 800 to 1350. 

On Tuesday, 43,824 vaccine doses were administered in Delhi for the whole day, out of which nearly 33000 people have been given the first and 10,000 people have been given the second dose. Covaxin is completely out of stock for those above 45 years of age in Delhi, Covishield stock is available for 12 days. We would like to again appeal to the Central government to immediately approve and import other vaccines in India including Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson so that the youth can get the vaccine as soon as possible. 

Atishi said, “Yesterday, on May 25, 43,824 vaccines were administered. Out of this, nearly 33,320 were first doses, and about 10,504 were inoculated with their second dose. The repeated decline in numbers has been due to the shortage of vaccines, and the fact that for those between 18-44, the entire vaccination programme has been temporarily halted. Moreover, around 7 days back, the numbers were as high as 1,20,000-1,40,000."

"This is the third day of no vaccination for youth between 18-44 in any of the government schools of Delhi. For 45+ age group, Covaxin is completely ended. The few vaccines that were left in the past few days were being used for inoculation of the second dose. However, even that has ended now. We had made arrangements for vaccinating around 3 lakh people a day and we had that capacity. This is because we have been unable to receive any vaccines from the centre. For the 45+ category, the vaccines are supplied directly from the centre, and for that Covaxin is not being delivered," she added. 

"For the youth, the states can purchase from the manufacturers, but the schedule is designated by the central government only, which has refused to supply any new vaccines at the earliest. The only vaccination that is happening is in private hospitals, at the expense of going to hospitals and contracting the virus, and even more so, at expensive rates. One vaccine dose costs between Rs 800-1300. A lot of young people in Delhi cannot afford vaccines at such high costs. This is the reason behind the decline in vaccination numbers per day," the senior AAP leader said. 

Citing the stock position, Atishi further said, “For the 45 plus category, 2,98,540 doses are left, and nearly 2,92,630 are of Covishield, and 5910 are of Covaxin. Hence Covishield is available for 12 days, and Covaxin is nearly finished. Not only is it impossible to get Covaxin, but it is also becoming difficult for those who have already taken the first dose, who cannot get vaccinated with the second one. They don't even know when they can get it, and the first dose will end up becoming ineffective.” 

“A lot of vaccines are available in the international market which has not been approved by the centre yet but is approved by the WHO. Today, all across the world, countries are administering vaccines like Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson. Even the World Health Organisation (WHO) has approved them, but the centre hasn’t done that yet. The centre must approve these vaccines at the earliest, do the large-scale import of them in the nation, and allow an increase in the manufacturing capacity of vaccines in India as well. They must supply these to all the states as soon as possible, including Delhi, as it is the only way to protect ourselves from the third wave,” Atishi lastly added.