Centre orders 440 mn doses of Covid vaccines
250 mn Covishield, 190 mn Covaxin shots to be delivered between August and December: official
The Centre on Tuesday said it has placed orders for 440 million doses of Covishield and Covaxin coronavirus vaccines, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the Union government would take over the state procurement quota and provide free jabs to state governments for inoculation of all above the age of 18, an official aware of the developments said.
These 440 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines will be delivered by their makers between August and December 2021, the Union health ministry said.
“In immediate follow-up of the Prime Minister’s announcement of these changes in the Guidelines of National Covid-19 Vaccination programme yesterday (Monday), the Centre has placed an order with Serum Institute of India for 250 million doses of Covishield and with Bharat Biotech for 190 million doses of Covaxin,” the official cited above said.
“Additionally, 30% of the advance for procurement of both the Covid-19 vaccines has been