Govt Places Order For 66 Crore COVID-19 Vaccine Doses From Serum Institute, Bharat Biotech

Amid the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination drive, the Union government has placed an order for 66 crore doses of Serum Institute of India's (SII) Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.

The order has been placed for supply of 66 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses at a cost of Rs 14,505.75 crore between August and December.

Further, 22 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses will be made available to the private sector.

The fresh order has been placed at Rs 215.25 per dose for Covishield and Rs 225.75 per dose for Covaxin, inclusive of GST.

The development comes as Centre, in an affidavit filed on 25 June, told the Supreme Court that India will have access to 1.35 Covid-19 vaccine doses through December, enough to cover the eligible adult population of the country.

The government's estimate includes 50 crore doses of Covishield, 40 crore of Covaxin, 30 crore of Biological E's vaccine, 5 crore of Zydus' jab and 10 crore Russian Sputnik V jabs.