India: Govt orders 440 million doses of Covishield, Covaxin vaccines

Mumbai - 740 million doses have been secured for use from August onwards

By Web report

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Published: Wed 9 Jun 2021, 9:26 AM

Last updated: Wed 9 Jun 2021, 9:35 AM

The Indian government has placed fresh orders for 440 million doses of Covishield and Covaxin vaccines for the August-December period from the two domestic manufacturers, Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech.

Dr V.K. Paul, chairman, National Empowered Group on Vaccination, said an additional order for 300 million doses has been placed on Biological E, Hyderabad, for its in-development protein subunit vaccine.


“All together 740 million doses have been secured for use from August onwards,” he revealed. Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech are expected to deliver about 530 million vaccine doses (including 235 million already administered), he added. According to estimates, if all these orders materialise, India would have 1.27 billion doses, adequate to ensure the entire population gets 940 million of one dose of a vaccine.

India’s vaccination drive faltered in May, but has started picking up again. On many days, it has seen over 3 million vaccination shots in a day. According to estimates, at least 90 million people have to be vaccinated each month to ensure that all adults get a single dose by December.


The Indian government has earmarked Rs350 billion for its vaccine procurements. The government has centralized the entire process now and will be the sole procurer of the vaccines.

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