The Union Health Ministry said that Covishield wastage has reduced from 8% on March 1 to 1% now, while Covaxin wastage decreased from 17% to 4 % in the same period.
India will be in a position to vaccinate at least all of its adult population by the end of 2021, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had said on Friday.
At a meeting to review the pandemic situation in nine states and union territories, the minister said, "Between August and December 2021, India will have procured 216 crore vaccine doses, while by July this year, 51 crore doses will be procured." Vardhan touched upon the speculation that the virus might mutate in future and endanger children, and said that the health facilities are being upgraded to deal with any such exigency, according to a health ministry statement.
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday informed that more than 1.60 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses are available with states/Union Territories (UTs), which can be administered.
As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, the Government of India has been supporting the states and UTs by providing them Covid-19 vaccines free of cost. In addition, the Government of India has also been facilitating direct procurement of vaccines by the states/UTs.
Vaccination is an integral pillar of the comprehensive strategy of the government for containment and management of the pandemic, along with Test, Track, Treat and COVID Appropriate Behaviour.
Implementation of the Liberalized and Accelerated Phase-3 Strategy of Covid-19 Vaccination has started from May 1, 2021.
Under the Strategy, in every month 50 per cent of the total Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) cleared vaccine doses of any manufacturer would be procured by Government of India. It would continue to make these doses available to the state governments totally free of cost as was done earlier.
"The Government of India has so far provided, both through the free of cost category and through direct state procurement category, more than 21 crore vaccine doses (21,33,74,720) to States/UTs", informed an official release by the Ministry.
Of this, the total consumption, calculated based on average up to May 21, 2021 including wastages is 19,73,61,311 doses (as per data available at 8 am today).
More than 1.60 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses (1,60,13,409) are still available with the states/UTs to be administered.
Furthermore, more than 2.67 lakh (2,67,110) vaccine doses are in the pipeline and will be received by the sstates/UTs within the next three days.
As many as 2,57,299 fresh COVID-19 infections and 4,194 deaths were reported in the country in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry informed on Saturday.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the country recorded 3,57,630 fresh recoveries in the 24-hour period, outnumbering new cases. The cumulative caseload in India now stands at 2,62,89,290 including 29,23,400 active cases.
The death toll mounted to 2,95,525, while the recovery tally reached 2,30,70,365. This is the sixth consecutive day when India has recorded less than 3 lakh new cases.
