C-vax available to all above 45 from today

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C-vax available to all above 45 from today

500 Centres To Vaccinate From 9am To 9pm

AlokKNMishra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:01.04.2021

From Thursday, everyone aged above 45 will be able to get the Covid-19 vaccine at 500 vaccination centres spread across 192 hospitals in the city. Advance booking on the Co-Win portal has already started and the government expects a huge jump in turnout. Increasing the coverage will also strengthen the fight against the novel coronavirus, which is crucial due to the recent surge in cases.

Health minister Satyendar Jain said, “Vaccination is being started on a large scale from Thursday. Those eligible can get the shots from 9am till 9pm. Delhi has a large number of people aged above  45. The government wants to cover all of them as soon as possible. Delhi has a sufficient stock of the vaccine. Some hospitals even have 10 vaccination centres.”

People facing trouble in registering themselves can also get the jab by walking into the vaccination centres from 3pm to 9pm.

The number of people aged above 45 is estimated to be over 65 lakh, while those between 45 and 60 years is 40 lakh. Vaccination of people aged above 60 and those between 45 and 59 years with 20 specified comorbid conditions has been going on for the last one month.

Several people reported glitches in registration on Wednesday. A resident of south Delhi did not get the time slot even after receiving the OTP, so could not schedule the vaccination. Another person reported delay in receiving the OTP despite waiting for a

long time. “I will try registering again on Thursday,” said Mukesh Kumar, a businessman in central Delhi.

Delhi government had recently asked all government hospitals to establish at least six vaccination centres as part of the preparations for expanding the coverage. The hospitals were also directed to depute two vaccinators at each additional site to increase the total slots. All these arrangements have already been made.

So far, 12 lakh people — 4 lakh aged above 60 and nearly

73,000 in the 45-59 age group — have been vaccinated. These include healthcare personnel, frontline workers, people aged above 45 with comorbid conditions and those above 60 years.

An official said that according to the Centre’s guidelines, three rooms were required to create one vaccination centre. Because of this, the process of opening more centres has been slow.