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and private hospitals were allowed to procure COVID-19 vaccine directly from manufacturers.
Government of India procured 50 percent of monthly vaccine production by the domestic
manufacturers, while the State Governments and private hospitals procured remaining 50 percent
doses. However, based on real-time feedback, it was changed to “The Revised Guidelines for
Implementation of National COVID Vaccination Program” implemented from 21 June 2021,
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whereby, Government of India procured 75 percent of monthly vaccine production and provided
free to States and UTs, while rest could be procured by private hospitals.
10.7 Availability of Vaccine: India is among few countries producing COVID vaccines. The
country started with two Made in India COVID vaccines. India’s first domestic COVID-19
vaccine, Whole Virion Inactivated Corona Virus Vaccine (COVAXIN), was developed and
manufactured by Bharat Biotech International Limited in collaboration with National Institute
of Virology of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The ICMR funded the clinical
trials of the COVISHIELD vaccine developed in collaboration with Oxford – AstraZeneca.
COVISHIELD and COVAXIN have been widely used vaccines in India. Every month about 250-
275 million doses of COVISHIELD and 50-60 million doses of COVAXIN have been produced .
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COVISHIELD, COVAXIN and COVOVAX have also received emergency authorization
approval from WHO. Besides, manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines viz., Sputnik-V,
ZyCoV-D, recombinant (Ad26.COV2-S) have also been given emergency use authorization by
the regulatory authority. Moreover, import of COVID-19 Vaccines viz., Sputnik-V, Moderna,
and recombinant (Ad26.COV2-S) have also been permitted.
10.8 Pricing and equity: At all Government COVID-19 Vaccination Centres (CVCs), COVID-19
vaccine was made available free of cost for all eligible citizens. Except for about 4-5 percent of
total doses administered in the country, rest have been administered at Government COVID-19
Vaccination Centres. Union Budget for 2021-22 allocated ` 35,000 crore for procurement under
COVID-19 Vaccination Program. Distribution of COVID vaccine to all without discrimination
has also been important feature of the vaccination program. Out of total administered doses of
COVID-19 vaccines, 49 percent have been administered to females; more than 70 percent of
vaccine doses have been administered at CVCs located in rural areas.
10.9 Coverage: In the first phase (from 16 January to 1 March 2021) COVID-19 vaccines were
st
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given to Health Care Workers and Frontline workers. In second phase (from 1 March onward),
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COVID vaccines were extended to persons over 45 years of age with specified co-morbidities
and those aged 60 years and above. From 1 April, 2021, coverage was further extended to all
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citizens aged 45 years and above. From 1 May 2021, all 94 crore persons of age 18 years and
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above, were made eligible for COVID vaccination. From 3 January 2022, COVID-19 vaccine
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coverage has been extended to age-group of 15-18 years. Till 19 January 2022, 3.73 crore
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youngsters between 15-18 age group have been vaccinated with 1 dose of COVID-19 vaccine
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covering more than 50 percent of youngsters. Further, from 10 January, 2022, Health Care
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Workers, Front Line Workers and persons age more than 60 years with co-morbidities have
been made eligible to receive a precaution dose of COVID-19 vaccine, on completion of 9
months or 39 weeks from the date of administration of 2 dose. As on January 19, 2022, 56.66
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lakh precautionary doses have been administered to health care workers, frontline workers and
persons over 60 years of age.
3 Update on COVID-19 Vaccine Manufacturing Capacity (PIB: 14 December 2021), Accessed in https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx-
?PRID=1781267)