SII urges Centre to use 10 cr Covishield doses offered free of cost by GAVI

The Serum Institute of India has urged the Centre to use the available 10 crore doses of Covishield offered free of cost by GAVI under COVAX facility in view of rising Covid19 cases in the country an official source saidThe Punebased firm has written to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare MoHF that if these 10 crore free doses of Covishield are not taken by the Indian government timely it will lead to wastage of the life saving vaccines amid the pandemic outbreakIn a letter to the ministry Prakash Kumar Singh Director Government and Regulatory Affairs at SII is learnt to have stated that the firm has already supplied 14 crore doses of Covishield to the Government of India GoI through UNICEF under COVAX facility of GAVI free of costApart from these 14 crore doses GAVI has also offered 10 crore doses of Covishield free of cost to Gol under COVAX facility the source saidAs Covid cases are rising again in our country using this immediately available 10 crore free of cost Covishield vaccine doses by GAVI for our citizens at the earliest would be beneficial in controlling the upsurge of Covid19 This will play a crucial role in taking forward the worlds largest vaccination drive under visionary leadership of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji towards its successful completion Singh is learnt to have statedThe cumulative Covid19 vaccine doses administered in the country has so far exceeded 18767 croreIndia had on April 10 began administering precaution doses of Covid19 vaccines to all aged above 18 years at private vaccination centresAll those above the age of 18 who have completed nine months after the administration of the second dose are eligible for the precaution doseThe countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 last year with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase Vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2 last yearThe next phase of Covid19 vaccination commenced on March 1 last year for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified comorbid conditionsIndia launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1 last year The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years of age to be inoculated against the viral disease from May 1 last yearThe next phase of vaccination commenced from January 3 for adolescents in the age group of 1518 yearsIndia began administering precaution doses of vaccines to healthcare and frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities from January 10The country began inoculating children aged 1214 years from March 16 and also removed the comorbidity clause making all people aged above 60 eligible for the precaution dose of Covid vaccineThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever