COVID-19 vaccination for people above 18 begins in Delhi

New Delhi: The third and largest phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive to inoculate people in 18-45 age group began here Monday morning.

Around 90 lakh people are eligible for the jabs under this category in Delhi. Five vaccination booths each have been set up at 77 schools for the exercise, an official said.

The government set up the vaccination centres at schools to accommodate the large number of beneficiaries, he added.

Till now, vaccines were being given to those aged above 45 at around 500 centres in the national capital.

Pre-registration is mandatory for vaccination in the 18-45 age group, and there will be no walk-ins under 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, 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.

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

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