Vaccine supply to rise 50% to 120 million doses in June

India’s Covid-19 vaccine availability will rise to about 120 million doses next month, up 50% from May, providing a boost to the flagging inoculation drive, said people with knowledge of the matter.

There has already been a pick-up in jabs over the past two days, with manufacturers supplying doses to smaller private hospitals that have taken the ‘cohort’ approach — identifying specific groups — down to the local community centre level.

As per health ministry statistics, 61 million doses will be supplied to states in June to inoculate healthcare and frontline workers, and those 45 years old and above, while 58.61 million doses will be available for those in the 18-44 age group.


That’s an increase from May, when 40.35 doses were available for priority groups and 39 million for the 18-44 age group, of a total 79.40 million.

The 45-plus age group will see a 51% increase in the allocation of vaccine doses and it will be about the same for the 18-44 year-olds at 50%.

3 million Inoculations for 1st Time Since May 1
Serum Institute of India (SII) has informed the government that it will be able to manufacture and supply 90-100 million doses of Covishield in June, advancing its production target.

Increased supplies are already reflecting in vaccination figures. On Friday and Saturday, inoculations crossed 3 million for the first time since opening up to the sub-45 years group on May 1.

That’s up from a daily 1.5-2 million since the beginning of the month. According to CoWIN data analysed by ET, daily inoculations crossed 2 million only on 12 days in May.

A key contributing factor in the rise was the role of small private hospitals. So far, only large healthcare chains such as Fortis, Max and Apollo had been getting direct supplies from vaccine manufacturers for the 18-44 age group.

In the past week, doses have gone to smaller healthcare setups that took inoculations to residential complexes. “Smaller hospitals have been in a queue and a few of them are now beginning to get vaccines. More have been promised in the coming weeks,” Harsh Mahajan, president, NatHealth, told ET.

These hospitals have identified groups of people that can be inoculated at specific locations.

“Small private hospitals are now tying up with RWAs (resident welfare associations) to organise vaccination camps in the neighbourhood,” said Girdhar Gyani, director general, Association of Healthcare Providers (India). “About 750 small hospitals had come under our umbrella and we had placed a request of 3 million (Covishield) doses with SII (Serum Institute of India) and 1.5 million Sputnik V doses with Dr Reddy’s. We have been assured of more Covishield doses by June 15.”

The small hospitals are getting vaccines in small tranches. “These are transported in boxes from the vaccine manufacturer’s cold storage facilities in different parts of the country, maintaining the cold chain at all times,” Mahajan said.