Union Health Ministry rejects media claims of ‘not placing’ fresh orders of COVID-19 vaccine

Ministry of Health issued a statement denying media reports of not placing any fresh order for Covid vaccines since March 2021. While the ministry declares that the allegations are a pile of complete rubbish.

On Monday, the Union Health Ministry issues a press release denying the media allegations that the center has not placed any fresh order for Covid-19 vaccines. The ministry declares them untrue and says that these are not backed by facts.

Some media reports say that the last order with two vaccine makers was placed in March 2021, which is false and is not based on facts.

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Furthermore, the ministry discloses that 100% of the advance was released by the government for doses of Covishield to the Serum Institute of India (SII) on the 28th of April, 2021, and was received by them on the same day.

In addition to this, 8.744 crores of vaccines have been delivered by the SII till the 3rd of May, 2021, as the union health ministry declares.

Additionally, it discloses the statement that 100% of the advance was delivered to Bharat Biotech India Limited (BBIL) for the consignment of Covaxin on 28th April, and it was received by the latter on the same date. 

Providing the elaborations, the ministry says, “Hence to say that fresh orders have not been placed by Government of India is not correct”.

Further adding, the health ministry says, “As of 2nd May 2021, Govt of India has provided more 16.54 crore vaccine doses to states/UTs free of cost. More than 78 lakh doses are still available with the states/UTs to be administered. More than 56 lakh doses, in addition, will be received by the states/UTs in the next three days”.

Well, in this regard, the Serum Institute of India (SII) has also issued a statement which says, “We endorse this statement, & the authenticity of the information. We have been working closely with the government of India for the past year and thank it for its support. We remain committed to ramping up our vaccine production to save every life we can”.