NEW DELHI: A total of around Rs 9,725 crore has been spent so far on the Covid-19 vaccination programme including procurement of vaccines and operational cost for vaccination, the government informed the Parliament on Friday.
It also maintained that there has been no delay in procurement of jabs and that the target of delivering 135 crore doses between August and December is on track, junior health minister Bharti Pravin Pawar, said in response to a question from Rahul Gandhi and TMC’s Mala Roy.
“Between August 2021 to December 2021, a total of 135 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccine are expected to be available. There has been no delay in entering into purchase agreements with the domestic vaccine manufacturers. Advance payments have also been made to manufacturers for the supply orders placed with them,” Pawar said.
Underlining that there is no fixed timeline for the completion of the vaccination drive, the minister maintained that it is expected that all beneficiaries aged 18 years and above will be inoculated by December. “In view of the dynamic and evolving nature of Covid pandemic it is expected that beneficiaries aged 18 years and above will be vaccinated by December 2021,” Pawar said. More than 43.9 crore vaccine doses have been supplied to states and UTs so far, and a further 71.4 lakh doses are in the pipeline, according to health ministry. A total of 42.7 lakh doses were administered across the country on Friday.
