As India readies to kick-off the COVID-19 vaccination drive from January 16, the secretary of the Union ministry of health and family welfare said at a press conference that as of 4 pm today, on January 12, the central government had already received 5,472,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. The rest of the required vaccines will be received by January 14 by all the states and the Union Territories. 

The Indian government is procuring 11 million doses of Covishield vaccine from the Pune-based Serum Institute of India at a cost of Rs 200 per dose (excluding taxes). Another 5.5 million doses of Covaxin are being procured from Bharat Biotech International Ltd (BBIL). Of these 5.5 million doses, the company is offering 1.65 million doses free of cost to the government, while the remaining 3.85 million doses of Covaxin are being procured at a cost of Rs 295 per dose (excluding taxes), informed the secretary. The cost of vaccination of healthcare and frontline workers will be borne by the Central government. 

There will be a gap of 28 days between the administration of the two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. The effectiveness of the vaccine begins 14 days after the second dose. 

Speaking on the Covishield vaccine, Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India said that the company has offered a special price (Rs 200 per dose) to the Indian government to protect the people. After supplying to the government, the company will be selling the vaccine at Rs 1,000 per dose in the private market. 

According to the Indian government, both Covishield and Covaxin are being procured at a very reasonable price. A number of other COVID-19 vaccines available worldwide are priced higher.

The Indian government has set up national and state level vaccine stores for a roll-out of the vaccination drive. Four government medical store depots (GMSDs) have been set up at Karnal, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai respectively. All the states in the country have at least one state-level regional vaccine store. Uttar Pradesh has nine; Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have four each; Kerala has three; Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan and Karnataka have two such stores each.

To ensure there is a smooth roll out of the vaccination drive, the central government has held 26 virtual meetings/trainings with the states/UTs. Apart from this, over 2,360 master trainers, another 61,000 programme managers, two lakh vaccinators, and 3.7 lakh other vaccination team members have been trained.  

Apart from Covishield and Covaxin, a number of other COVID-19 vaccines are under trial in India. Their possible timelines are given below:

The entire COVID-19 vaccination exercise may last beyond a year, said the secretary at the press conference. 

Last month, Gaon Connection, India’s biggest rural media platform, carried out a survey on the ‘COVID-19 Vaccine and Rural India’ across 16 states and one UT. Almost 44 per cent  of the rural citizens said they were willing to pay for the COVID-19 vaccine; two-third of them did not want its price to exceed Rs 500. 

Public health experts and bioethics researchers have been demanding a free corona vaccine for the entire population of the country. Questions are also being raised over the approval granted to Covaxin, which is yet to declare the results of the phase 3 of the clinical trials.