Covishield at Delhi govt vax centres to be reserved for 2nd dose only till July 31

A vial of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, which is produced in India and marketed as Covishield (Representative image: Reuters)

On account of limited supply of Covid vaccine, the Delhi government on Thursday issued an order to reserve Covishield shots only for beneficiaries whose second dose is due, across all its vaccination centres till July 31.

The order issued by the Directorate of Family Welfare said, all slots, booked online or availed through walk-in shall be reserved.

"Vaccination of 18-44 cohort began on May 1, 2021 and with the completion of the 84-day interval for second dose of Covishield, many of them would now become eligible for the second dose in coming weeks," reads the order.

"In view of limited supply of vaccine, all slots, both for online booking and walk-in vaccination in the sessions being planned in government CVCs administering Covishield vaccine will be reserved for second dose of Covishield with immediate effect till July 31," it said.

Both Covishield and Covaxin vaccines are administered at Covid vaccination centres (CVCs) run by the city government.

Over 95 lakh Covid vaccine doses have been administered in the national capital till July 21, according to a vaccination bulletin issued by the city health department on Wednesday.

The bulletin said Delhi had less than a day''s stock of vaccine doses left on Wednesday morning after administering over 71,000 doses on Tuesday.

The national capital had received 85,810 doses of Covishield on Tuesday, taking the total number of doses available in Delhi to 1,08,300.

The total number of Covaxin doses available stands at 1,84,390. Only 20 per cent of Covaxin stock can be used for the first dose, since its stock is limited and has irregular delivery cycles.

A total of 71,997 beneficiaries were vaccinated on Tuesday, including 29,857 who were inoculated with the second dose, thereby making them fully vaccinated.