89 hospitals chosen for 1st phase of COVID-19 vaccination drive: Delhi Health Minister

New Delhi: With the world's biggest vaccination drive slated to roll out across India from January 16, the Delhi government said that it has made all preparations and finalised 89 hospitals for the first phase of Covid-19 vaccination.

Of the 89 Delhi hospitals, 40 are government-run and 49 are private, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain told a press conference.

Noting that the Central government has finalised around 5,000 vaccination sites across India, he said: "As per the instruction of the Central government, the Delhi government has prepared these 89 sites which are different hospitals of Delhi.

"At every centre, there will be 8-9 people who will handle the drive. With this preparation, the Delhi government will start the first phase of vaccination from January 16."

Jain said that the Delhi government will focus on the healthcare workers, frontline workers and then the people aged above 50 in the first phase of the Covid-19 vaccination.

As many as 2,25,000 healthcare workers will get the vaccination in the first phase of the mammoth exercise and that the Delhi government will also include teachers in the exercise as they worked as frontline workers in the time of Covid-19 pandemic, he said.

Jain said that the vaccines for the Covid-19 will start arriving between January 12 to 14 and the Delhi government has prepared a "very strong and robust storage system to keep the vaccine".

"The whole system of vaccination is ready and we are fully prepared to start the vaccination drive. Right now, we are only waiting for the arrival of the Covid-19 vaccine and as soon as the vaccines start arriving, the work will start immediately."

Citing Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's request to the Central government on Saturday regarding free vaccine distribution to everyone, the Minister said the Delhi government "is of the view that every person should get free vaccine across the country and we are monitoring the situation very carefully".

Earlier in a meeting with Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Jain said he also requested him for the same.

"From our side, every decision regarding Covid vaccination will be for the benefit of the citizens of Delhi."

The Minister said that that vaccine will be administered to Delhi residents as the Covid-19 situation in the capital has improved a lot and the situation is now under control with 519 positive cases witnessed on Saturday.

The positivity rate of Covid infection was 0.65. From the past 15 days, Delhi is continuously witnessing higher positivity rate. It should also be noted that for more than 15 days now, Delhi is witnessing less than thousand cases per day, he added.