Bharat Biotech to provide 16.5 lakh Covaxin doses for free
The Union Health Ministry announced that all vaccine doses, 1.10 crore from Serum Institute of India (SII) and 55 lakh from Bharat Biotech, will be given to all states and Union Territories by January 14.
The first consignments of SII’s Covishield were reportedly flown out of Pune early on Tuesday morning, on flights operated by Air India, SpiceJet, GoAir, and IndiGo.
Addressing a press briefing in the national capital today, the government said that 55 lakh doses of Covaxin are being procured from Bharat Biotech. Besides this, the government said that 1.10 crore doses of Covishield vaccine are being procured from SII at a cost of Rs 200 per dose, excluding taxes. The government also indicated that 38.5 lakh Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin doses will cost Rs 295 each (excluding taxes), adding that the company will be providing 16.5 lakh doses for free, bringing down the price to Rs 206 each.
The press briefing also reportedly mentioned that all vaccine doses, 1.10 crore from SII and 55 lakh from Bharat Biotech, will be received by January 14 in all states/UTs. Over 54 lakh Covishield doses have been received till 4 pm Tuesday at designated national, state-level vaccine stores.
As per health ministry data, India recorded the lowest number of detected new COIVD-19 cases in seven months over the last 24 hours (12,584). 25 states/UTs have less than 5,000 active cases. About 43.96 per cent of COVID-19 patients in India are in healthcare facilities, 56.04 per cent in home isolation.
The health ministry has urged caution in spite of these decreasing number of new cases, as the COVID-19 situation remains worrisome around the world. Meanwhile, the total number of persons found positive with the variant strain of COVID-19 first detected in the UK is 96, with no addition in the last 24 hours.