Government places an order for 66 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines

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In order to expedite the immunisation drive against Covid-19, the Central government has placed an order for 66 crore doses of Covishield and Covaxin worth Rs 14,505 crore. This is the largest order placed by the government so far and is expected to aid in meeting the projections of vaccine availability that it had made in the supreme court (SC). India plans to inoculate its entire adult population by the end of this year.

Government’s vaccination plan

The government on June 26 had submitted an affidavit in the SC stating that 135 crore doses of the vaccines would be available between August and December. In addition to this order of 66 crore doses of Covishield and Covaxin, the government has also made an advance payment to Biological-E to reserve 30 crore doses of its vaccine, Corbevax, according to a report in The Times of India. 

With this move, the government will have a combined total of 96 crore doses in the time period between August and December. The 96 crore doses include the government’s share of 75%. The private sector will have 22 crore doses of Covishield and Covaxin for the same period. As per officials, the order and the expected supplies will help India’s inoculation drive remain on track.

The combined production of Covishield and Covaxin for the period of August-December is pegged at 88 crore doses. Apart from Covishield, Covaxin, and Corbevax, the government’s arsenal of vaccines also include Russia’s Sputnik V and Zydus Cadila’s ZyCov-D.

The locally manufactured supplies of Sputnik V are yet to commence, while Zydus Cadila is yet to get approval from the Centre. As per the Centre’s affidavit, 10 crore doses of Sputnik V and five crore doses of ZyCov-D are expected to be available this year.

This order is significant as it will ensure the vaccination drive in India goes on without disruption, despite fears of a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As per the government data, over 39 crore doses of vaccines have been administered so far in India. Over 31 crore first doses and 7.81 crore second doses of the jabs have been administered so far.

The daily vaccination figures haven’t been that great in the month of July and the states have been asked to ramp up the vaccination drive along with the private sector.