Amid Covid surge: Not many takers, Centre stops giving Covid vaccine stock to states, asks them to procure own doses from manufacturers

“… States have already been advised that they may take steps for procurement of requisite Covid vaccine doses directly from the manufacturers without prior approvals from Union Ministry of Health,” according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office following a high-level meeting convened by Principal Secretary, PMO, P K Mishra, to review the Covid-19 situation.

Although it was not clear from the statement whether these doses would be paid for by the Centre, officials from states said they are making their own budgetary provisions.

The Centre provided doses free to states for giving the two primary vaccine shots to all above the age of 12 years and the third precaution dose to those above the age of 60 years, healthcare workers, or frontline workers. Free precaution doses for those between 18 and 59 were provided by the Centre for 75 days from July 15.

With most doses expiring in March-end, several states are facing stock-outs.

An official from Haryana said, “In a video-conference meeting earlier this month we were informed that the Centre will not provide any more vaccine doses. So the state government is looking to buy its own doses. We are looking to buy only the three vaccines that were available at government centres so far — Covishield, Covaxin, and Corbevax.”

An official from Delhi confirmed there is a stock-out: “Vaccine doses we had in stock were to expire by March-end, so we used it all last month. Now there is no vaccine available at government centres. The state government is looking to procure the vaccines itself as per the Centre’s instruction earlier this month. The process is under way.”

The official said the doses are not available at the moment because production for Covaxin and Covishield was “halted due to low demand”. The official said, “Even if we procure, people are not coming forward to get vaccinated. This is the reason the Centre decided not to make any bulk purchase. Even at private centres, they are not getting enough beneficiaries.”

The number of vaccines administered in a day has dropped since April first week. From an average of nearly 46,000 doses administered a week during March, the numbers dropped to 12,358 in April first week, 2,983 during the second week, and 2,664 during the third week, according to data from the government’s CoWIN portal. This, despite an increase in Covid-19 cases — usually there is an uptick in vaccination whenever there is an increase in cases.

A senior official from Chattisgarh said, “The government is not providing doses any longer. We have asked for 50,000 doses now that cases have gone up, but it is only in the ‘asked’ stage — nothing has happened. Now if states want to vaccinate, they have to buy the doses. I do not blame the Centre, as people were not coming to get the shots and many doses went to waste.”

The official added, “The states may invest to buy some doses —50,000 is doable, with the cost coming up to Rs 1 crore at the rate of Rs 200 per dose. But if more people need to be vaccinated, states may not be able to bear the cost.”

Officials from Bihar and Andaman and Nicobar Islands also confirmed that there is a stock-out but said their governments are not procuring any doses. The official from Bihar said there is no stock at government centres, but the vaccines are available at private centres and people can get it there.

Stating that the UT administration has already vaccinated 100% people with the third precaution dose as well, the official from Andaman and Nicobar islands said, “There are very few people who were unable to get the vaccine — because they were ill or for other reasons. We have urged private players to vaccinate people who have been left out, but buying in bulk does not make sense for us.”

In October last year, the Centre reportedly surrendered 85% of the budget allocated for Covid-19 vaccination, with 1.8 crore doses still available in stock.

Meanwhile, after a two-day dip in the number of positive cases, it crossed the 10,000-mark again on Wednesday, according to Union Health Ministry data. At Wednesday’s meeting, Mishra was informed that eight states were reporting a majority of the cases: Kerala, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Rajasthan.

Almost 92% of the active cases remain in home isolation, according to the statement.

The meeting focussed on the status of preparedness of health infrastructure, logistics, drugs, and vaccination campaign in the country. Mishra asked the states to remain prepared at the sub-district level to manage local surges and to monitor cases of influenza-like illnesses and severe acute respiratory infections to identify emerging hotspots.