India Likely to be left with surplus COVID vax in Dec

India will perhaps have a huge stock of surplus Covid-19 vaccine by December end since production capacity has been amped up to a great degree, and the total vaccines required to inoculate the Indian adult population next month is only 15.63 crore.

According to a Times of India report, at least 31 crore Covid vaccines are likely to be produced in India, in the month of December, which is almost four times the number of vaccines made in May (7.9 crores), thus indicating a massive scale-up in vaccine production.

“Around 10.4 crore doses have been given so far, while 21.64 crore unused doses were available with states and UTs as on Monday,” said the TOI report

The total number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 117 crore on Monday, the Union health ministry said. More than 63 lakh (63,98,165) vaccine doses were administered to the beneficiaries till 7 pm on Monday, it said, adding that the daily vaccination tally is likely to increase with the compilation of the final reports by late night.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with the healthcare workers (HCWs) getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of the frontline workers (FLWs) started from February 2. The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 years and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

The country launched vaccination for all people aged above 45 years from April 1. The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years of age to be inoculated against the viral disease from May 1. News18