No shortage of Covid-19 vaccines, no delay in placing orders: Govt

New Delhi, July 20: There has been no shortage of Covid vaccines and the government has been providing free supply of vaccines to states and union territories for inoculating prioritised beneficiaries, Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

Also, there has been no delay in placing orders with domestic vaccine manufacturers, rather advance orders of vaccines are placed with Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech for supply of COVID-19 vaccines, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said in a written reply.

Responding to a question on whether many states including the hardest-hit Maharashtra were complaining about shortage of vaccines during the last three months, she said, "There has been no shortage of COVID-19 vaccines and the government of India has been providing free supply of vaccines to states and UTs for administration to prioritised beneficiaries as recommended by NEGVAC."

Advance visibility of these allocations i.e. the total doses of vaccine that would be available to a state and union territory, are provided to them 15 days in advance so as to enable them prepare plan for acceleration of vaccination coverage while being cognizant of the available vaccines, the minister said.

She also refuted allegations of any delay in placing order of vaccines and said, "There have been no delay in placing orders with domestic vaccine manufacturers rather advance orders of vaccines are placed with Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech for supply of COVID-19 vaccines.