Arvind Kejriwal writes to Harsh Vardhan, requests price parity of vaccines & enough supply

As Delhi continues to grapple with the devastating second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has written a letter to Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan to seek COVID-19 vaccines for inoculating the entire population residing in the national capital.

In the letter addressed to Dr Harsh Vardhan, Kejriwal said there are 92 lakh people in the age group of 18-45 years in Delhi, as he asked Harsh Vardhan to direct Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech to supply 60 lakh vaccine doses to Delhi every three months i.e. May to July.

Kejriwal said Delhi will require 83 lakh doses to innoculate 18-45 years as well as 45 years and above population to inoculate within three months.

"We are now applying one lakh vaccines every day, which is going to be increased to three lakhs. Therefore, we will have the capacity to apply 90 lakh vaccines per month," Kejriwal said.

Kejriwal claimed people are facing issues while using the CoWIN portal to get themselves registered for vaccination and asked the Union Health Minister to allow the state governments to come up with their own app for inoculation.

The Delhi Chief Minister also asked the Health Minister to have one price for the vaccines whether it is supplied to the Centre, State governments or the private hospitals.

The vaccine manufacturers will sell the vaccine to the private hospital first because the private hospital will be charged more for the vaccine doses than the state governments, said Kejriwal.

Delhi's COVID-19 situation

On Sunday, Delhi Government has extended the lockdown for another week with CM Kejriwal cautioning the people that this lockdown will be stricter than before. Arvind Kejriwal said although COVID-19 cases and positivity rate have come down over the last few days, any complacency would squander the gains achieved so far in the current wave of the pandemic. According to the guidelines of the new lockdown, Marriages will be held at home or in courts with not more than 20 people. Kejriwal appreciated the Centre for its constant support to Delhi. Metro services have also been shut down in this lockdown.

Delhi recorded 17,364 fresh COVID cases and 332 deaths over the last 24 hours on Saturday. The cumulative caseload has reached 13,10,231 including 87,907 active cases and 19,071 related deaths. The national capital recorded a positivity rate of 23.34 per cent and the case fatality rate of 1.46 per cent. India has reported 4,03,738 new COVID-19 cases, 3,86,444 discharges, and 4,092 deaths in the last 24 hours on Sunday's update.