Delhi CM Kejriwal urges residents to not queue up at vaccination centres on 1 May

New Delhi: The Covid-19 vaccines have not reached Delhi yet but we have been assured its supply by tomorrow or the day after, said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday.

“We have not received the vaccines yet. We are in constant touch with the company. We are hopeful that vaccines will reach by tomorrow or the day after,” said Kejriwal.

“They have assured us that three lakh doses of Covishield are coming to us first, tomorrow or the day after,” he added.

The Delhi CM further requested all residents of the national capital to not crowd at the vaccination centres on Saturday when the inoculation drive is extended to include everybody above the age of 18.

“As soon as the vaccines come, we will make proper announcements. People with appointments can then start coming to the centres,” said Kejriwal.

“We have ordered a total of 67 lakh Covid-19 vaccines from both the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech. The administration has requested them to supply the doses over the course of the next three months,” he added.

He reiterated that the state government is hoping to vaccinate all adults in Delhi against coronavirus within the next three months.

State health minister Satyendra Jain had said yesterday that Delhi does not have Covid-19 vaccines available with it currently.

“We do not have vaccines as of now. We have made requests to the company regarding vaccines, we will tell you when it comes,” Jain was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

The minister, however, said preparations to inoculate people in this category had been completed.

Many states have flagged the issue of insufficient stock of vaccines and indicated that they may miss the 1 May launch date of the drive.

Claiming that shortage of Covid-19 jabs may disrupt plans to immunize all adults from 1 May, Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana have said the process to vaccinate people in the 18-44 age group will begin once they get a substantial number of vaccines from pharmaceutical companies.

Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh are among the states which have already raised the issue of vaccine shortage even for the ongoing inoculation drive for those above 45 years of age.