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Apart form the 1.1 crore doses of Covishield being procured from the Serum Institute of India, 55 lakh doses of indigenously developed Covaxin were being obtained from Bharat Biotech, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said at a press conference. “Fifty-five lakh doses of Covaxin are being procured from Bharat Biotech. For 38.5 lakh doses the price is Rs 295 each, excluding taxes. Bharat Biotech is providing 16.5 lakh doses for free which ultimately brings the cost of Covaxin down to Rs 206 per dose,” he said.
Bhushan said there are four Central Government Medical Stores Depots at Chennai, Karnal, Kolkata and Mumbai where the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine, Covishield, doses are being received. Besides this, all states have at least one regional vaccine store. Some big states have multiple stores. Uttar Pradesh has nine such stores, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat four each, Kerala has three such facilities, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka and Rajasthan two each, he said.
“As we speak, 54,72,000 doses have already been received till 4 pm at these vaccine stores, while 100 per cent doses, 1.1 crore from Serum Institute and 55 lakh from Bharat Biotech, will be received by January 14 in all states and Union Territories,” the health secretary added. NITI Aayog member Dr V K Paul, Covishield and Covaxin have been tested on thousands of people. “They are the safest and there is no risk of any significant side effect.” Bhushan said that Zydus Cadila, Russia’s Sputnik V, Biological E and Gennova are the other vaccines which are in advanced stages of clinical trials in India.
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About the effectiveness of the vaccines, Bhushan said those can be observed only after 14 days. “So we urge people to keep following COVID-appropriate behaviour.” The health secretary said the five key principles for anti-coronavirus vaccination are to ensure people’s participation, utilise the experience of elections and universal immunisation programme, making no compromise on scientific and regulatory norms and neither on existing healthcare services. Noting that the COVID-19 situation is worrisome around the world, he said even though daily new cases are declining in India, there should not be any laxity in following COVID-appropriate behaviour.
India’s overall COVID-19 positivity rate stands at 5.7 per cent while positivity rate in the last one week was recorded at 2 per cent, Bhushan said, adding that about 43.96 per cent of the total COVID-19 patients are in healthcare facilities while 56.04 per cent patients are in home isolation.