New Delhi: Even after the central government released a fund of Rs. 2,519 crore for India's two vaccine manufacturers to produce nearly 15 crore Covid vaccine doses, renowned health expert and Indian Medical Association (IMA) secretary-general Dr Jayesh M Lele, in an exclusive interaction with ETV Bharat on Tuesday, said that the number of vaccine doses ordered by the government is very minimal given the fact that all people above 18 years of age have been permitted to get the vaccine.
The Union Health Ministry on Monday said that Rs 1,732 crore has been released to Serum Institute of India (SII) to produce 10 crore COVISHIELD doses. The manufacturer has already released 8.7 crore doses for the next three months (May-July).
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Similarly, Rs 787 crore was released to Bharat Biotech for 5 crore doses of COVAXIN for the month of May-July.
The Health Ministry said that the government will place more orders in the next one month for more doses.
"All the state governments have been asked to minimise the wastage of vaccines," Health Ministry officials said.
Official statistics revealed that Lakshadweep has reported maximum wastage of 9.76 percent of Covid 19 vaccines, followed by Tamil Nadu 8.83 percent, Assam 7.70 percent, Manipur 7.44 percent, Haryana 5.72 percent, Dadra and Nagar Haveli 4.99 percent, Punjab 4.98 percent, Bihar 4.95 percent, Nagaland 4.13 percent and Meghalaya has reported wastage of 4.01 percent of Covid19 vaccines.
Dr Lele said that government should have already put an order for more doses following the fact that many state governments have put their vaccination process on hold due to a shortage of vaccines.
"The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is creating havoc. The only tool we have in our hands is the vaccine. But vaccination process of going very slow...," said Dr. Lele.