Union Government Places Fresh Order For 44 Crore Covid-19 Vaccine Doses From SII And Bharat Biotech

The Narendra Modi led Central government today (8 June) placed a fresh order of 44 crore Covid-19 vaccination doses from Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech to ensure universal vaccination against the virus.

In a follow-up of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement of changes to the national Covid-19 vaccination program guidelines, the Union Health Ministry has placed an order with Serum Institute of India for 25 crore doses of Covishield and with Bharat Biotech for 19 crore doses of Covaxin.

An advance to the tune of 30 per cent of the cost of total order has been released to Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech.

This decision comes after the centre took over the entirety of Covid-19 vaccination management by reverting back to the pandemic management system which was followed till 30 April.

As a result, the centre will take back the 25 per cent control which states were given over the vaccination drive. Prime Minister Modi also added that the centre will provide free vaccines to the states for the vaccination of all citizens aged above 18.

Henceforth, the centre will procure 75 per cent of the Covid vaccines and provide it to the states free of cost. The remaining 25 per cent vaccines will be procured by private players.

Today's 44 crore dose order is is in addition to 30 crore doses ordered from Hyderabad based vaccine manufacturer Biological-E. These vaccine doses will be manufactured and stockpiled by Biological-E from August-December 2021.

The COVID-19 vaccine of Biological-E is currently undergoing Phase-3 clinical trial after showing promising results in Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials. The vaccine being developed by Biological-E is a RBD protein sub-unit vaccine.