New Delhi/Punjab/Gujarat, April 29: With less than 48 hours to go for the third phase of COVID-19 vaccination drive for all adults in the country, several states, including Punjab, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh on Thursday said they do not have sufficient doses of vaccine for the inoculation of those in the 18-44 age group, and indicated that they may miss the May 1 launch date of the drive.
The Health Minister of Delhi, one of the worst COVID-hit cities in the country, said the city “does not have vaccines” for the third phase and purchase orders have been placed with the manufacturers.
Later, officials said Delhi will procure 67 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine from Serum Institute and the first tranche of three lakh doses will be delivered by May 3, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh are among the states which have already raised the issue of vaccine shortage even for the ongoing inoculation drive for those above 45 years of age.
However, denying that there was any shortage of vaccine, the Union Health Ministry on Thursday said more than 1 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with states and UTs and they will receive over 20 lakh more doses within the next 3 days.
The Union Health Ministry also said the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country was over 15 crore so far.
As per reports, Serum Institute’s current manufacturing capacity is 6-7 crore doses per month while Bharat Biotech made around 2 crore doses in April as against 1.5 crore doses in the month of March. (PTI)
