sserting that India is on track to vaccinate its entire adult population by December, top officials on Monday said a blueprint is in place to ensure a total supply of 187.2 crore doses by the year-end that would be enough for the country's 94 crore 18-plus population.
Refuting questions raised by some critics about the government's vaccination strategy, they said while India will have 53.6 crore doses between January and July, the supply will zoom to 133.6 crore doses in the August-December period with more firms joining the supply chain and the existing ones ramping up their production.
India is also in talks with foreign companies like Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, and if it enters into procurement deals with them then the vaccine supply will be further boosted, while work on more domestic vaccines is also underway, they said.
Speaking to a group of reporters soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the Centre will now provide free vaccination to the entire adult population and take over the 25 per cent procurement quota of states, the officials said "fluctuating" and even "contradictory" stands of states had an adverse impact on the vaccination programme in May.
Of an estimated procurement of 53.6 crore doses by July this year, the direct procurement by states and private hospitals is projected at about 18 crore.