 "A medical worker administers a dose of Covid-19 vaccine to a visitor in Mumbai on September 27, 2021. (PTI Photo)")
A total of 102.38 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered free of cost at government vaccination centres, while only 4.08 crore doses were administered at private centres since May 1, the Lok Sabha was told on Friday.
The Centre is supplying Covishield and Covaxin manufactured in India under the COVID-19 vaccination programme and sufficient stock is available with states and Union territories, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said in a written reply.
"From May 1, 2021 till date, 102.38 crore doses (96 per cent of the total doses) of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered free of cost at government CVCs, while only 4.08 crore doses (4 per cent of the total doses) were administered at private CVCs," Pawar said.
The Government of India has not imported any COVID-19 vaccine for free supply to states/UTs under the national COVID-19 vaccination program, she said adding however, permission has been granted for import of Sputnik vaccine and is being administered in private vaccination centres.
The national COVID-19 vaccination programme ensures equitable access of vaccination services to all eligible beneficiaries, the minister noted.
Since April 1, 2021 to November 30, 2021, a total of 75,20,35,586 (68 per cent) vaccine doses have been administered at CVCs located in rural areas, while 35,29,98,471 (32 per cent) vaccine doses have been administered at CVCs located in urban areas, she said in response to a separate question.
India achieved the 100-crore Covid vaccination dose milestone on October 21, 2021.
The first 50 crore vaccine doses were administered in 203 days, while the second 50 crore doses were administered in 76 days.
"The number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in India are amongst the highest in the world," Pawar said.
The vaccination programme is progressing at a steady pace and the vaccination coverage has improved significantly from an average of 2.35 lakh doses per day in the month of January 2021 to an average of 78.69 lakh doses per day in the month of September 2021.
Adequate doses to vaccinate all eligible first dose and due second dose beneficiaries aged 18 years and above by December 2021 have been made available to states/UTs, she said.
As on November 30, a total of 63,39,45,173 (51 per cent) vaccine doses have been administered to male population and 60,09,00,639 (49 per cent) vaccine doses have been administered to females.
In the current financial year 2021-22, Rs 35,000 crore has been budgeted for procurement of COVID-19 vaccine.
As on November 27, an expenditure of Rs 19,675.46 crore has been incurred against this allocation which has been utilised for procurement of COVID-19 vaccine for free of cost supply to state/UTs. No separate expenses have been allocated for fuel, the MoS informed the House.
She also said that as on November 29, a total of 4,89,959 vaccine doses have been administered to prisoners across states and UTs.
During the initial phase of COVID-19 vaccination, there were challenges of vaccine eagerness as well as vaccine hesitancy which were soon overcome by implementation of a focused communication strategy to sustain vaccine confidence across all states/UTs.
The Government of India continues to supply COVID-19 vaccines free of cost to states/UTs since the commencement of the vaccination programme to ensure vaccine coverage of all eligible beneficiaries with both doses.
The Government of India launched 'Har Ghar Dastak Abhiyaan' from November 3 wherein missed beneficiaries for first dose and due beneficiaries for second dose are identified and vaccinated through house-to-house activity.
The need to administer booster dose is deliberated by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) and National Expert Group on vaccine administration for Covid (NEGVAC) based on scientific evidence, Pawar added.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
