12 Crore Covid Vaccines To Be Available For States, UTs In June: Union Health Ministry

Amid many states complaining of a shortage of Covid-19 vaccines, the Union health ministry on Sunday said that nearly 12 crore doses will be available in the country in June.

Of these about 6 crore doses will be supplied to the states and Union territories while another 5.8 crore doses will be available for states and UTs to procure by themselves, the ministry said. It further added that 7.94 crore Covid-19 vaccines were made available for states and UTs in the month of May.

"For the month of June, 6.09 crore (6,09,60,000) doses of COVID vaccines will be supplied to the States and UTs for vaccination of priority group of Health Care Workers (HCWs), Front-Line Workers (FLWs) and person aged 45 years + and above as free supply from Government of India," the ministry said.

"In addition, more than 5.86 crore (5,86,10,000) doses will be available for direct procurement by the state/UTs and Private Hospitals. Therefore, in June 2021 close to 12 crore (11,95,70,000) doses will be available for the national COVID vaccination programme," it said.

The ministry further added that the vaccines are being allocated to states and UTs on the basis of their consumption pattern, population and vaccine wastage.

The ministry said the delivery schedule for vaccine allocation for June will be shared with states in advance.

"States have been requested to direct the concerned officials to ensure rational and judicious utilization of allocated doses and minimize the vaccine wastage. The basic objective behind informing the States/UTs in advance of the quantum of free vaccine doses to be made available from Centre for 15/30 days and the total vaccine doses which are available for direct procurement by States/UTs is to ensure better planning and delivery of vaccine by States/UTs," it said.

For the month of May, 4,03,49,830 vaccine doses have been made available by the Union Government to states. In addition, 3,90,55,370 doses were available for direct procurement by the states as well as private hospitals in May.

"Therefore, in May 2021 a total number of 7,94,05,200 doses were available for the national COVID vaccination programme," the ministry said.

The developments come in the backdrop of the country logging 1,65,553 new coronavirus infections and 3,460 fatalities on Saturday.

The number of active cases has reduced to 21,14,508, comprising 7.58 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate has improved to 91.25 per cent.

(With PTI inputs)