New Delhi, Sep 3 (FN Agency) The Centre has spent 26.3 per cent so far from the budget of Rs 35,000 Cr allotted for the Covid-19 immunisation to procure 124 crore doses from three manufacturers, union health ministry said in a reply to a query asked under RTI. The ministry said that Rs 9229 crore was spent to procure the doses from three vaccine manufacturers between March and July 2021. According to the RTI reply by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW), Rs 4410 crore were spent on the procurement of 21 crore doses of Covishield manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII) and seven crore doses of Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech between March and May. The union government has procured both the vaccines at the rate of Rs 157.50 per dose between this period, the RTI said.
The expenditure of Rs 9229.31 crore also includes the partial payment of Rs 1500 crore as an advance order for 30 crore jabs at the rate of Rs 50 per dose of Corbevax vaccine by Hyderabad based pharmaceutical firm Biological E. The vaccine has been given a nod for phase II/III trials and is expected to be approved for mass immunisation by the end of the year. The RTI further reveals that the Centre expects to procure 37.5 crore more doses of Covaxin and 28.5 crore doses of Covishield by December. The union government has already placed a fresh order on July 16 for this lot. “Rs.897 crore has been given as an advance payment to Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad for delivering 28.5 crore doses of Covaxin at the rate of Rs 225.75 per dose while Serum Institute of India has received Rs 2421 crore for 37.5 crore doses at the rate of Rs 215.25 per dose,” the union health ministry informed. The expected time of arrival of doses from Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech is between August to December. According to the RTI query from information activist Vivek Pandey, the Centre is allocating the Covid vaccines to the states and union territories on the basis of pro-rata target population, the progress of vaccination in the state and union territories and vaccine wastage.