India’s capital Delhi has begun vaccinating its 18-44 year olds, albeit at a slow pace due to limited vaccine availability, according to the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
“Mass vaccination for youth of Delhi has begun,” he announced on Twitter. “We have established 301 centers in 76 schools. Our target is to establish 3000 such centers in 300 schools, subjected to the availability of vaccine.”
Delhi has 450,000 vaccines and 45,150 people have been given vaccination appointments, he added in a statement to Asian News International, an Indian news agency.
“There is 100% turnout,” he told ANI Monday. “There is a lot of enthusiasm in the youth.”
Some background: In a bid to tackle India’s spiraling Covid-19 crisis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the country will offer vaccines to everyone age 18 and above from May 1. The change came into effect on Saturday, however, a number of states, including Delhi, said they have no shots to give.
On Friday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged citizens not to queue up for shots Saturday as vaccine supplies had not been received. Monday marks the first day that Delhi was able to start offering vaccines to the newly eligible cohort.