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Bihar places order for first batch of 15.92 lakh doses of vaccine
PATNA Bihar on Monday placed orders for supply of first batch of 11
PATNA
Bihar on Monday placed orders for supply of first batch of 11.80 lakh doses of Covishield and 4.12 lakh doses of Covaxin before it begins inoculating 5.50 crore target population of 18-44 years of age against coronavirus.
Bihar is purchasing the vaccines directly from the firms — the Serum Institute of India, the manufacturers of Covishield, and the Bharat Biotech, manufacturers of Covaxin. The state’s purchase would be in addition to the Centre’s allotment in due course of time, said an official of the health department.
“We made advance payment of ₹36.74 crore to the Serum Institute on Tuesday for the first lot of 11.80 lakh doses of Covishield. We have also placed purchase orders for supply of 4.12 lakh doses of Covaxin with the Bharat Biotech. We are in constant touch with the firm to raise the invoice so that we can make advance payment for the vaccines,” the official added.
The Centre has fixed a purchase rate of ₹315 per dose for Covishield and ₹420 per dose for Covaxin for states and union territories.
“We are pursuing with the Serum Institute for immediate dispatch of the vaccines and it has assured us that the shipment will move Wednesday,” the officer said.
Bihar has been going slow on vaccination because of lack of availability of sufficient vaccines.
“We have around 8 lakh doses of vaccines available with us and intend to utilise them up in the next four days. The Centre has assured to replenish the vaccines before we exhaust our stock,” said Manoj Kumar, executive director of the State Health Society, Bihar, also the state’s nodal officer for vaccination.
The lack of vaccines has forced Bihar to scale down its session sites from 2,800 almost a month back to 2,200 as on Monday.
“We were faced with a shortage of vaccines a fortnight back when the number of inoculations dipped to around 70,000 a day against a peak of 3.75 lakh inoculations a day. We have picked up again and inoculated 1,16,805 lakh on May 3,” added Kumar.
Bihar had so far inoculated 74,18,981 people against a target group of 2.30 crore people above 45 years of age.
The state has decided to hold back the vaccination of 18 years and above population till it receives sufficient quantity of vaccines.
