Centre inks deal for 30 crore doses of Biological E’s COVID-19 vaccine

 

New Delhi: As part of its bid to ramp the vaccination target, the Health Ministry on Thursday announced that it has booked 30 crore doses of Hyderabad-based Biological E’s COVID-19 vaccine.

The vaccine, which is presently undergoing phase 3 clinical trials will be the second made-in-India vaccine to be used in the country after Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.

An advance payment of Rs.1500 crore will be made by the Ministry to Biological E which will manufacture and stockpile the aforesaid quantity of vaccine doses from August to December 2021.

Earlier opposition parties has targeted the Centre its vaccination policy, as the vaccines were in short supply during the second wave. The government thus paused exports of Covid shots under its “Vaccine Maitri” programme and scrambled to procure more doses to tackle shortage in the country.

The vaccine is likely to be available in the next few months, said the government in a statement.