Discrepancy in Vaccine Numbers
The government estimates that it can triple the vaccine supply from July, with Indian manufactures now preparing to start the production of Russian COVID vaccine — Sputnik V by August along with Covishield and Covaxin.
As per reports, in a submission before the Supreme Court on 9 May, the Centre said that the manufacturing capacity for Covishield, Covaxin and even Sputnik V could go beyond 14 crore doses a month by July 2021.
Currently, the government told the court, Serum Institute of India was producing around 6.5 crore doses of Covishield a month while Bharat Biotech was producing 2 crore doses of Covaxin a month that is expected to go upto 5.5 crore doses in July.
What doesn’t add up, however, is the deficit between the total vaccine production capacity and the number of doses being given out in a month.
In a month, Covaxin and Covishield can together produce up to 8.5 crore doses, which makes it 27.4 lakh doses a day. However, between 1 May and 28…