Ahead of the rollout of free precautionary shots of Covid-19 vaccine for all from July 15, vaccine makers say they are in a state of readiness to cater to the anticipated surge in demand. 

The vaccine makers are expecting to receive fresh orders from the Centre to cater to the 75-day programme, and they said they are all geared up to meet the demand. 

A spokesperson of Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Ltd. said fresh stocks of Covaxin are available and ready to be supplied. 

“Bharat Biotech has more than 50 million doses of Covaxin readily available in vials and over 200 million doses as a drug substance. Additional production capacity is also available to meet product demand,’‘ the spokesperson added. 

As of July 14, 1.92 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccination had been administered in the country.

However, with the increase in Covid-19 cases in some places and the reduction of the time gap between two vaccine doses to six from nine months, the demand for the vaccine is expected to increase going forward, said a senior official from State health departments. 

The Serum Institute of India has about 200 million doses of Covishield stockpiled, company executives have in the past said, adding that the doses could be facing expiry by September. In fact, the company had scaled down its production earlier this year, which was over 200 million late last year, given the low demand for vaccines.

Biological E Ltd, which manufactures its Covid-19 vaccine, Corbevax, is also ready to provide “adequate” supplies as per demand”, said a source in the company. The company has the capacity to produce over 100 million doses per month and can ”respond to any increasing demand too,” the source said, adding that the company has already got about 30 crore vaccine doses in supply. 

Government hospitals are also making preparations to meet the likely surge in demand. “ We have asked all government hospitals to allocate an additional number of staff to handle the administration of vaccines and hope there will be an adequate allocation of doses from the Centre,’‘ said a senior official of the Telangana health department.

The private hospitals, however, are still keeping their fingers crossed. “We only read in newspapers about the precautionary vaccination for all from July 15. But have not received any guidelines from the government yet, “said the CEO of a major corporate hospital chain. 

Dr. Reddy’s laboratories, the custodian of Russian Covid vaccine, Sputnik in India, said the booster dose of the vaccine has been available in various cities and towns.

(With inputs from PT Jyothi Datta in Mumbai)

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