New Delhi, May 14: A total of 191.99 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine-Covishield and Covaxin-will be supplied free in the states / UTs from May 16 to May 31, the Union Health Minister said on Friday.
The distribution schedule for allocation will be shared in advance. States / UTs have been requested to instruct the authorities concerned to ensure rational and judicious use of the allocated doses and to reduce vaccine wastage.
The 191.99 lakh dose consists of 162.5 lakh Covshield doses and 29.49 lakh Covaxin doses.
The basic objective behind informing the states and UTs in advance about the amount of free vaccine doses to be provided from the Government of India for 15 days is to ensure that they are judicious and optimum use of these free vaccine doses. Create an effective plan for For the age group of 45 years and above, and for healthcare and frontline workers, ‘the ministry said.
In the last fortnight, ie from May 1 to May 15, 2021, a total of more than 1.7 crore vaccine doses have been made available free of cost by the Center to the States / UTs.
In addition, in the month of May, more than 4.39 crore doses have been made available for direct purchase by states and private hospitals, the ministry said.
The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country is approximately 18 crores (17.93 crores as per provisional report at 7 am on Friday).
The COVID-19 vaccination campaign has successfully completed 118 days, in which 17.93 crore doses have been given to the identified beneficiaries through the collaborative efforts of all states and union territories.
India is the fastest country in the world to reach the target of 17 crores in 114 days. The US took 115 days and China took 119 days to deliver the same amount of food.
The ‘Liberalized Pricing and Accelerated National COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy’ is being implemented from May 1, 2021, wherein 50 percent of the available doses have been kept for supply to the States and Union Territories, while free supply from the Government of India channel. Does. The remaining 50 percent is available for purchase directly from vaccine manufacturers by states and union territories and private hospitals.
The Ministry stated that the allocation of the Center’s supply to the Center / States has been decided during the next fortnight on the consumption and pattern and beneficiary load for the second dose.