India News | COVID-19: Over 18K Beneficiaries Vaccinated on Thursday in Delhi

New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI) Over 3.46 lakh beneficiaries have received COVID-19 vaccine till date in Delhi since the start of the inoculation drive a month ago, with more than 18,000 people receiving shots on Thursday, according to data shared by officials.

Out of these, more than 1.44 lakh are healthcare workers and over two lakh are frontline workers, as per the data.

Coronavirus vaccine shots were administered to more than 18,900 beneficiaries in Delhi on Thursday. Six minor cases of AEFI (adverse events following immunisation) were reported, the officials said.

A total of 18,599 beneficiaries received shots across over 300 centres in the national capital on Wednesday.

On Thursday, 18,945 people were vaccinated, including 5,542 healthcare workers who got their second dose, as the inoculation drive picked up pace, according to the data.

"Six minor cases of AEFI (adverse events following immunisation) were reported," an official said.

Till date, 1,44,346 healthcare workers have been vaccinated and 2,02,945 frontline workers also received vaccine, as per the data shared by the officials.

Frontline workers include police personnel, civil defence staff, sanitation workers, among others.

The vaccination drive, started on January 16, has picked up pace in the last one week.

Under the nationwide mega vaccination drive launched on January 16, a total of 4,319 (53 per cent) health workers against a target of 8,117 were administered the shots at 81 centres across the city on day one.

As per doctors, the second dose is to be given to a beneficiary after a gap of 28 days.

On February 13, a total of 13,768 beneficiaries received vaccine shots and second dose began to given to healthcare workers who had received the first jab 28 days ago.

On the second scheduled day after the roll-out of the exercise on January 16, the figures had stood at 3,598 (44 per cent of the target). The sharp fall had come after one severe and 50 minor adverse effect cases were reported, on the opening day of the vaccination drive.

The count on third scheduled day was much higher, at 4,936 (48 per cent).

Delhi recorded 220 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the highest number of single-day incidences in February, even as no new fatality was registered.

This is the fourth time the single-day fatality count has stood nil in this month.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)