Centre to get 1.65 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses by Jan 14

A van transports boxes of Covishield vaccine to different areas of the city in Siliguri on January 12, 2021. Credit: AFP File Photo

The Centre expects to receive all the 1.65 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccine it had ordered from two manufacturers by Thursday, well in time to start the vaccination drive on Saturday.

Pune-based Serum Institute began delivering batches of its Covishield vaccine on Tuesday morning across the country with Delhi receiving its first consignment of the 2.54 lakh doses onboard a SpiceJet aircraft. By evening, 54.72 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine were delivered across various cities.

Read: Karnataka receives first consignment of Covid-19 vaccines

Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the exercise to vaccinate 30 crore persons – one crore health workers, two crore frontline workers and 27 crore above 50 years and those below 50 with co-morbidities – would continue for nearly an year.

The Centre has ordered 1.1 crore doses of Covishield from the Serum Institute and 55 lakh doses of Covaxin developed by homegrown vaccine maker Bharat Biotech.

The Covishield vaccine would cost the government Rs 200 per dose, while the indigenously developed Covaxin would cost Rs 295 per dose. However, Bharat Biotech is supplying 16.5 lakh doses of vaccine, jointly developed with National Institute of Virology, free effectively bringing down the per dose cost to Rs 206.

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Bhushan said four more vaccine candidates were at various stages of development and could be available for use as the vaccination drive progresses.

The Health Secretary presented a comparative price analysis of different vaccines across the world and noted that the vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech cost Rs 1,431 per dose, that of Moderna Rs 2,348 to Rs 2,715, Sinovac Rs 1,027, Novavax Rs 1,114, Sputnik V less than Rs 734 and the one developed by Johnson and Johnson at Rs 734.

Bhushan also struck a word of caution and urged the people not to give up Covid-appropriate behaviour after vaccination.

He said the effectiveness of the vaccines would be known only after 14 days and the second dose would be administered after 28 days from the first shot.

Bhushan said the Covid-19 situation was worrisome around the world, but daily new cases were on the decline in India.