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The sharp cuts in vaccine supply projections are baffling

In its recent affidavit to the Supreme Court, the government has revised its figures for vaccine supply before the end of this calendar year. Earlier, in May, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, in an official briefing, had said that 2.1 billion vaccine doses would be made available between August and December 2021. In this latest affidavit, however, the government has committed to only 1.35 billion. The first figure from Mr Vardhan and others included some optimistic projections for as yet untested vaccines, such as a nasal vaccine from Bharat Biotech, and the Supreme Court affidavit does not include these. But