SII to provide 10 cr Covishield doses in June; Centre targets to inoculate 1 cr people daily

Ina press release by Health Ministry today, the update on vaccine availability for the month of June was shared which claimed nearly 12 Crore doses will be available for National COVID Vaccination for month of June 2021.The ‘Liberalized Pricing and Accelerated National COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy’ is being implemented from 1st May 2021 wherein 50% of the available doses are earmarked for supply to States/UTs, as free of cost supply from Govt of India channel, while the remaining 50% is available for direct procurement from the vaccine manufacturers by States/UTs and private hospitals.

For the month ofJune 2021, 6.09 crore(6,09,60,000) doses of COVID vaccines will be supplied to the States and UTs for vaccination of priority group of Health Care Workers (HCWs), Front-Line Workers (FLWs) and person aged 45 years + and above as free supply from Government of India. In addition, more than 5.86 crore (5,86,10,000) doses will be available for direct procurement by the state/UTs and Private Hospitals.Therefore, in June 2021 close to 12 crore (11,95,70,000) doses will be available for the national COVID vaccination programme. The Government of India also targets to inoculate 1 crore people on a daily basis.

The Government of India targets to procure 20 to 25 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses by July-end and 30 crore doses in August-September, informed government sources on Sunday. According to sources, the Serum Institute of India (SII) has initiated the process of ramping up the production of vaccine and will provide 10 crore doses of Covishield to the Central government by the next month and 10 to 12 crore doses by July.

According to the Union Health Ministry, a total of 21,20,66,614 vaccine doses have been administered through 30,07,831 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am today. More than 30.35 Lakh (30,35,749) vaccine doses have been given in the last 24 hours. “For the month of May, a total quantum of more than 4.03 crore (4,03,49,830) vaccine doses has been made available by the Union Government to States, free of cost. In addition, a total quantum of more than 3.90 crore (3,90,55,370) doses was also available for direct procurement by the States as well as private hospitals in the month of May 2021. Therefore, in May 2021 a total number of 7,94,05,200 doses were available for national COVID vaccination programme,” the ministry informed.

India is currently using made-in-India vaccines — Covishield manufactured by SII and Covaxin of Bharat Biotech — for its COVID-19 vaccination programme. Russian Sputnik V is the third vaccine to get approval from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for emergency use. (ANI)