Covid-19 vaccine drive to speed up further in September; 240 million to be inoculated

Approximately 200 million doses are likely to be of Covishield, which will be delivered by the Serum Institute of India (SII).

The nationwide vaccination drive against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is expected to gather further pace in September as more than 240 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines are likely to be administered next month, Hindustan Times’ sister website Live Hindustan has reported citing Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan. This means that on average, 8 million shots will be administered each day in September, as against the corresponding figures for August which, at present, are between 5.3-5.4 million.

A health worker administers the Covid-19 vaccine to a beneficiary at a vaccination centre in Katraj on Friday. (HT PHOTO)

Of these 240 million doses, approximately 200 million are likely to be of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca jab, which is being marketed locally as Covishield. These will be delivered by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer.

Further, in first week of October, the supply of ZyCoV-D, the sixth and latest vaccine to receive Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), will commence, while the administration of shots will begin by the end of the month. The manufacturing of two other jabs approved by the drugs regulator -- those of Moderna and Johnson & Johnson respectively -- is projected to start from this month itself.

As of now, the vaccination drive is completely dependent on Covishield and Covaxin, the first two vaccines which received EUA from the DCGI, in January. Sputnik V, the third shot to be approved, has been used only in a limited capacity. The nationwide inoculation drive began on 16th January and, thus far, 622,989,134 doses have been administered, according to the Union ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) dashboard. These include around 550 million and 76 million doses of Covishield and Covaxin respectively, as per official data.

On August 27, India became the first country to vaccinate more than 10 million people in a single-day.

Of the half-a-dozen jabs approved by the DCGI thus far, two are indigenous while the rest are foreign developed. Covaxin and ZyCoV-D are both 'made in India,' while the rest have been developed abroad.