45 BILLION

That’s how many rupees the Indian government will give to vaccine manufacturers for ramping up capacity

Looking to ramp up supplies ahead of the opening of Covid-19 vaccination to all citizens over 18 years of age, the government has approved a payment of about Rs45 billion as advance to vaccine makers like Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech against future supplies, sources said.

SII will supply 200 million doses and Bharat Biotech is to supply another 90 million doses to the government by July at a pre-agreed rate of Rs150 per dose. SII will get Rs30 billion in advance and Bharat Biotech about Rs15 billion.