India administered 6.77 crore doses in the 13 days from June 21 to July 3, which is a 67 per cent increase in vaccinations over the preceding period, that is June 8-20.
According to a report by The Indian Express, in just under two weeks since India returned to centralised procurement and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, it inoculated a fifth of all doses given since vaccinations began on January 16.
Daily vaccinations have averaged 52.08 lakh since June 21, compared to 31.20 lakh in the preceding 13 days, the data show.
Meanwhile, the first batch of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine will be arriving in India in the next few days, government sources told CNN-News18 on Saturday. With this, India will have four options to choose from – Covaxin, Covishield, Sputnik V and Moderna.
The government has also reiterated in recent Health Ministry briefings that Pfizer may be coming to India, soon. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla had in June said his firm was in the final stages of getting approval for its Covid-19 vaccine from the Indian government, adding that when approved, the pharma giant will supply one billion doses to India within this year.
With more options, India may not only achieve its ambitious target of vaccinating a majority of its vast population by the end of this year, but the constant scarcity of doses will also be resolved.
In the wake of several states urging the Centre to step in after they failed to purchase vaccines through global tenders, the government on June 21 tweaked the vaccine policy and reverted to the centralised procurement system. Despite this, some states are still reporting a shortage in Covid-19 jabs.
Coronavirus cases continued to decline in India as the daily number of infections dipped to 43,071 in the last 24 hours, taking the total tally to 3,05,45,433. The death toll increased to 4,02,005 after 955 people succumbed to the disease, the Union health ministry said. India’s active cases also dropped further by 10,183 and it now stands at 485,350. While, 52,299 people recovered, pushing the total number of recoveries to 29,658,078.
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