NEW DELHI: The Centre has projected the production of nearly 78 crore doses of Covishield and Covaxin, the two Covid vaccines which have been the lynchpin of the national Covid vaccination drive thus far, for the next three months. This raises hopes of pace in the sluggish programme.
An internal note prepared by the Union health ministry, reviewed by The New Indian Express, has said that in August, nearly 25.5 crore doses of the two vaccines will be manufactured, while it will go to a little above 26 crore doses in September and 28 crore doses in October.
In the country, the total Covid vaccination figures have crossed the 50 crore mark now but the population fully covered with two doses of the vaccine remains just about 11 crore — or less than 9% of the total adult population.
The note by the government also said that between August and December, over 136 crore doses of Covishield by the Serum Institute of India and Covaxin by Bharat Biotech will be manufactured in India.
Considering that nearly 52 crore doses of the vaccines have been supplied to the states so far, this could mean a total supply of 188 crore doses of these two vaccines by December.
Additionally, sources in the Union health ministry said that Covid vaccines by Biological E, Covovax, Janssen and Gennova will also be available starting October.
“We are hoping to get about 35-40 crore doses of these vaccines in the last three months which will take the total tally of Covid vaccines to nearly 200 crore doses by the year-end,” a senior ministry official said.
In the country, five Covid vaccines -- Covaxin, Covishield, Sputnik V, Moderna and Janssen -- have received emergency use approval so far.
As India's total adult population is about 95 crore, about 190 crore doses are required to fully vaccinate them.
Those watching the Covid19 vaccination drive closely meanwhile pointed out that the latest figures are based on the production capacity of vaccine makers, the government should also reveal the actual vaccine doses to be available in the coming months.
“What we are being told is the projected production capacities of the vaccine makers but so far we have seen that the actual supply has been far lesser and an explanation of a few months’ lags in the production cycle is offered for this,” said a vaccinologist attached with a government institute in Faridabad.
“Therefore I will not be excited by these figures and would want to see how many doses are actually supplied in the coming months” he added.
The Centre in May had projected availability of 216 crore Covid vaccine doses between August and December but had later revised it to 135 crore, with top functionaries saying that the figure presented earlier was “aspirational”.