COVID Vaccines: How Much Has Govt Spent From Budgetary Quota Of Rs 35K Crore?

New Delhi: The Central government has so far spent Rs 9,229.31 crore to procureme 124 crore vaccine doses from three manufacturers for COVID-19 vaccination in the country. That amounts to 26.3% of the Rs 35,000 crore fund allotted for the mass inoculation programme.

Responding to an RTI query by Vivek Pandey, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare said that an amount of Rs 4,410 crore was spent on procurement of 21 crore doses of Serum Institute of India-manufactured Covishield and 7 crore doses of Bharat Biotech-developed and manufactured Covaxin at the rate of Rs 157.50 between March and July.

The total expenditure includes partial payment of Rs 1,500 crore as an advance order for 30 crore doses at the rate of Rs 50 per dose of Corbevax vaccine being manufactured by Hyderabad’s Biological E. These vaccines are expected to be delivered between September and December.

The Health ministry also submitted that Rs 2,521.56 crore has been released to Pune-based Serum Institute on July 16 as advance payment for 37.5 crore doses of Covishield at the rate of Rs. 215.25 per dose.

It further says that Rs 897 crore has been given as an advance payment to Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad for delivering 28.5 crore doses of Covaxin at the rate of Rs 228.75 per dose.

The expected time of arrival of doses from Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech is between August to December.

The ministry further clarified that COVID vaccines were allocated to states and union territories on the basis of pro-rata target population, progress of vaccination and vaccine wastage.

“As on 02.09.2021, more than 64.65 crore (64,65,07,160) vaccine doses have been provided to States/UTs through Govt of India (free of cost channel) and through direct state procurement category,” the government said.

It was also informed that an additional Rs 1,392.82 crore was spent from Prime Minister Care Funds to procure 6.6 crore doses of Covishield and Covaxin in January and February.