NEW DELHI (INDIA) – Health minister Harsh Vardhan said on Sunday that India is looking forward to receive up to 500 million doses of coronavirus vaccine by July. This would be done to inoculate about 250 million people, as infections in the country continue to increase.
India has recorded some 6.55 million infections, with 75,829 in the past 24 hours. Deaths due to COVID have touched 101,782, health ministry data showed.
Vardhan wrote on Twitter, “There is a high-level expert body going into all aspects of vaccines. Our rough estimate and the target would be to receive and utilise 400 to 500 million doses covering (200 million-250 million) people by July 2021.”
Serum Institute of India and private companies have been teaming up with organisations from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to US drug developer Novavax Inc.
Vardhan said India has formed committees in charge of various aspects of the vaccine supply chain, including availability timelines for various vaccines. It is trying to get commitments from manufacturers to make sure the maximum doses are available.
He said the federal government is committed to taking all measures to ensure “fair and equitable” distribution of vaccines once they are ready.