Delhi’s Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Sunday that frontline and healthcare workers will receive the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine in the first phase in the national capital, even as the Comptroller General Drug Commission of India gave final approval for the emergency. use of Oxford University-AstraZeneca and Bharat Biotech injections.
“There are three lakhs of healthcare workers and six lakhs of frontline workers in Delhi who will be given the Covid-19 vaccine,” Jain said according to the ANI news agency.
The Health Minister had said on Saturday that all Delhi residents, who were eligible, will receive the Covid-19 vaccines at no cost and that the government had made all the arrangements, from storing the injections to administering the doses. “The Delhi government already provides free medicines and treatments to the city’s residents. The Covid-19 vaccine will also be provided at no cost to the people of Delhi, once it arrives, ”he said while addressing reporters.
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The Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, had announced on December 24 last year that the Delhi government had identified 5.1 million people, who belong to the “priority category” of the Center, who would receive the vaccines in the first phase. . Kejriwal said that each of these people was being registered and that an SMS would be sent to their phones notifying the date, time and place of vaccination. The prime minister stressed that the ‘priority category’ was divided into three parts: health workers, frontline workers and the elderly and people with comorbidities, adding that each person will receive two doses of the vaccine.
The national capital registered 494 cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, the lowest level in seven months. The total number of cases now stands at more than 626,000, of which 10,571 people have died. Active cases have been reduced to 5,342 while 610,535 have been cured or discharged. Health Minister Jain warned that although the third wave is subsiding, one must be careful and observe all precautions.
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DCGI VG Somani said that the overall efficacy of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was 70.42%, while Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin was “safe and provides a robust immune response.” The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine developed in Britain is being manufactured locally by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and will be branded Covishield, while Bharat Biotech has partnered with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to manufacture the vaccine.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter just after the regulator’s announcement and said the approvals were a decisive turning point in strengthening an energetic fight that accelerates the path to a healthier and Covid-free nation.
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