India expects about 15 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses in August

Nearly 15 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines would be available in August, health officials said here on Tuesday, underscoring the importance of vaccination as it reduces the chances of Covid deaths by 98% as shown in a new study.

"The visibility is of 15 crore doses in August. As we produce and inject, a part of the vaccine goes through the testing process at the Central Drug Testing laboratories and a batch is released following a process. But we are visualising availability of Covid-19 vaccines to the tune of 15 crore,” said V K Paul, NITI Ayog member and the government’s principal advisor on Covid-19.

This is three crore doses more than what was made available in July. However, a part of July’s 12 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines would be administered in August.

The Union Health Ministry claimed while 51.6 crore doses of Covid-19 were to be made available to the states between January and July, it did not mean that every dose would be utilised by July 31 as some would be consumed in August.

As of date, a cumulative total of 45.7 crore doses have been supplied to the states and union territories from January 2021 till date and an additional 6.03 crore doses are expected by July 31.

But the availability of 51.6 crore doses till the end of July didn’t mean that every dose supplied till that month would be consumed, the ministry said, denying reports that India was set to miss the target of administering 51.6 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses by July 31 as promised before the Supreme Court.

There would be supplies in the pipeline, which should be available for the next few days till the next supplies of vaccine doses materialise in a particular state to continue with the vaccination campaign.

After six months of vaccination, more than one-third of India’s target population of 94.47 crore received the first dose of the vaccine, whereas 22 out of 37 states and union territories provided the shots to more than 40% of their target population.

On the key issue of school reopening, Paul said it would not be an easy decision. “The schools have been closed for a long time. Society is concerned about learning loss. But it is a tightrope-walking as, on one hand, there is a risk to the teachers, staff and students, which is to be weighed against teaching and learning activities,” Paul said.