As India continues to grapple with the raging second wave of the Covid pandemic, the Central Government placed orders for the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines from both the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech.
NITI Aayog, Member-Health, Dr. V.K.Paul said that the government has placed an order to purchase 25 crore doses of Covishield and 19 crore doses of Covaxin.
The Centre has also placed an order to purchase 30 crore doses of Biological E's vaccine, which will be available by September this year.
"We should wait for the company (Biological E) to announce the price of their vaccine (Corbevax). It will depend on our negotiation with the company, under the new policy. The financial aid that has been given will meet part of the price," Dr Paul was quoted as saying in an ANI tweet.
"The provisional scientific data of the vaccine (Biological E's Corbevax) is very promising," he added.
Dr Paul also said that these 44 crore doses of Covishield (25 crore doses) and Covaxin (19 crore doses) will be available till December 2021.
"Additionally, 30% of advance for procurement of both the vaccines has been released to Serum Institute of India & Bharat Biotech," Dr Paul added.
The Niti Aayog member further said that the Covid-19 vaccines' price to private sectors (hospitals) will be decided by vaccine manufacturers, adding, "States will aggregate demand of private sector, which means they will oversee how much network of facilties it has, and how many doses does it require…:"
On being asked whether the central government will issue the new guidelines for vaccination after Supreme Court's verdict, Dr. Paul said, "We respect SC's concern, but GoI was evaluating the implementation of the decentralized model since May 1. Such decisions are taken over a period of time, based on analysis & consultations: Dr. VK Paul when asked on whether GoI introduced new guidelines for vaccination after SC verdict".