COVID-19 vaccination for 18-45 age group to begin in Delhi today

The government has set up vaccination centres at schools to accommodate a high number of beneficiaries.

New Delhi: The third and the largest phase of vaccination, under which beneficiaries in the 18-45 age group will be given jabs against coronavirus, will begin in Delhi on Monday (May 3, 2021).

Around 90 lakh people in this category will be eligible for the jabs. Five vaccination booths each have been set up at 77 schools for the inoculation exercise, an official said on Sunday.

The government set up vaccination centres at schools to accommodate a high number of beneficiaries, he said.

At present, jabs are being given to those aged above 45 at around 500 centres in the national capital.

Pre-registration will be mandatory for beneficiaries in the 18-45 age group and there will be no walk-ins for this category, for now, the official said.

Three big private hospital chains, Apollo, Fortis and Max, have already started vaccinating people in the 18-45 age group at limited centres from Saturday.

The Delhi government has placed orders for 1.34 crore vaccine doses with manufacturers which will be delivered over the next three months.

Of these, 67 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine are being procured from the Pune-based Serum Institute of India.

Officials had earlier said the first tranche of three lakh doses would reach Delhi in the first week of May.

Around 1.5 crore people are targeted to be vaccinated in Delhi, of which 32 lakh have received at least one dose so far, they said.

The Delhi government is taking the help of the voters' list to ascertain the number of eligible beneficiaries. According to it, there are around 60 lakh people aged above 45 years.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had on Thursday said a plan has been formulated to vaccinate all adults against coronavirus within the next three months.

He had said everybody aged above 18 would be administered COVID-19 vaccines free of cost in Delhi.

A government official had told PTI that inoculation of the 18-45 age group is likely to have a moderate start and will be ramped up gradually.

The vaccine will be delivered to the city government in phases. Private hospitals will have to procure vaccines directly from manufacturers, he had said. The Centre will continue to provide vaccine for those aged above 45 years.