Astha Saxena

Many researchers believe that if 60 per cent or more of the population has developed antibodies against Covid-19, there is a possibility of acquiring herd immunity.

This is the highest seroprevalence found during surveys conducted by the Delhi government since the Covid outbreak and, according to experts, indicates that the city is moving closer to achieving herd immunity.

The massive jump in vaccination numbers has been observed at government facilities which have been reporting 100% turnout for the last two days.

6,967 healthcare workers took the Covid vaccine on Saturday — 86% of target.

The first round of this exercise, conducted between the last week of June and the first week of July, had detected antibodies in about 23% of the volunteers.

Across Delhi’s 81 sites on Tuesday, 4,936 healthcare workers were vaccinated — 48.75% of the expected target of 10,125 beneficiaries. Government sources said there is a slight improvement in numbers as compared to Monday when 44% of beneficiaries turned up.

According to data collated by the 81 centres where the vaccination programme is being carried out, 26 cases of AEFI (adverse event following immunisation) have been reported Monday, with one beneficiary being hospitalised.

The city witnessed a turnout of 53.3% per cent on the first day of the drive, despite top experts and officials requesting people to, and assuring them that the vaccines were safe.

In a letter to the medical superintendent, the association said: “Resident doctors are a bit apprehensive about the lack of complete trial in case of Covaxin and might not participate in huge numbers, thus defeating the purpose of vaccination."

“Today marks the beginning of the mass vaccination drive for Covid-19 that has kicked off in the entire country. In Delhi, the vaccination drive has started in 81 sites and we will increase it to 1,000 in coming days," Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said.

“Before this, we did not have any definite treatment strategy. We were giving a lot of drugs but we didn’t have a good antiviral drug. This is one strategy which is going towards finding an end to the pandemic," said AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria.

Vaccine shots of both Covishield and Covaxin were used in Delhi's inoculation drive that took place at 81 centres across the capital.

The city has received 2.64 lakh doses of Covishield, the Indian variant of Oxford-AstraZeneca's AZD1222 vaccine, and 20,000 doses of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, for the immunisation programme.

Delhi government has set a target of 1,000 centres to inoculate 1 lakh persons per day, according to official documents, which state that 1,100 teams will be required to carry out the drive.

A total of 603 cold chain points have been identified across the city to serve as the immunisation centres.

The government has prepared a list of 2,25,000 healthcare workers who will be vaccinated in the first phase.

Manish Sisodia had said on Thursday that there is no case of bird flu in Delhi yet and asked officials to keep a close watch on poultry birds coming in from neighbouring states to prevent any infection

Meanwhile, Delhi recorded 444 fresh cases of Covid-19 on Friday, the seventh time the daily infection count stood below the 500-mark in January, while the positivity rate dipped to 0.59 per cent.

The first dry run for the Covid-19 vaccination rollout was held in Delhi on January 2 at three sites — GTB Hospital, Shahdara; the Urban Primary Health Centre, Darya Ganj; and the Venkateshwar Hospital, Dwarka.

“Eight fliers tested positive for the variant earlier and now five more have been found to have the strain. Of these 13 patients, only one is a contact of a positive patient while the rest have a travel history to the UK,” said a senior official from the health department.

Delhi will be among the first few states and union territories where the vaccination programme will be rolled out.

In a video, AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria has answered the most common questions about the Covid-19 shot. Edited excerpts

On Monday, the hospital wrapped up installing all equipment. The 650-bed hospital in East Delhi’s Dilshad Garden has been identified as the city's first storage facility for the vaccine.

In Delhi, the dry run will be held in three districts, informed Health Secretary Amit Singla to the Health Minister — at an Urban Primary Health Centre in Darya Ganj, Guru Teg Bahadur hospital in Shahdara, and Venkateshwar hospital in Dwarka.