Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking relaxation in terms of opening of COVID-19 vaccination centres and removal of obligation on age limit for getting vaccinated.
In the letter, Kejriwal stressed on the need to rapidly vaccinate the population in view of the increase in spread of COVID-19 across the country. He said if the rules for opening new vaccination centres are simplified and everyone is allowed to get vaccinated, Delhi government will be able to vaccinate all residents of the capital in three months.
Kejriwal expressed faith in the prime minister and hoped that he will look into what is said in the letter and respond in the affirmative.
"It is a matter of great pride that India has developed an effective vaccine in record time owing to the brilliant talent and hard work of its scientists, experts, and doctors in the global war against the COVID-19 pandemic. It has earned great praise for Indian scientists, experts, and doctors from all over the world," he wrote.
"The rapid spread of infection between immunisation campaigns in this way suggests that we must move the vaccination campaign forward in a more swift manner. This needs to be done at two levels - First, there is an urgent need to increase the number of vaccination centres. For this, the pre-conditions placed by the Centre regarding vaccination centres need to be relaxed," Kejriwal said.
He pointed out that according to the instructions of the Central government, vaccination centres can only be set up in hospitals or dispensaries. "Initially, this was done to ensure that if someone had an adverse reaction to the vaccine, they could be treated immediately in the hospital. The vaccination drive in the last three months has shown that the vaccine is safe. It is, therefore, requested that this condition be removed so that large-scale vaccination centres can be built in schools, community centres, and other places. It will be necessary to take precautions to ensure these relaxations do not put the citizens in harm's way and the Delhi government will ensure that it takes all necessary precautions," the chief minister said.
He said the vaccine should be made available to everyone by removing the age limit. "Except for those who cannot get vaccinated medically, we should start vaccinating everyone. This will remove the hesitation among people and increase the number of people getting vaccinated. The more people get vaccinated, the more we will be able to reduce the spread of the disease," he added.
He further said vaccination has to be organised as a war-level effort in the fight against COVID-19.
