Karnataka government cancels Rs 1.7 crore dose vaccine order

BENGALURU: A week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the Centre will procure Covid-19 vaccines and distribute them to the state — a major shift in the country’s vaccination policy — the Karnataka government has decided to scrap an order of two crore doses of Covishield it had placed with Serum Institute of India (SII).
Officials say the order was placed in April this year, and the government had paid for about 30 lakh doses, most of which it had received. Sources say the government paid about Rs 129 crore to SII, which translates to Rs 400 per dose.

“We estimate that there is a balance of only 1 or 1.5 lakh doses due from the company, which in all probability will arrive in the next three or four days,” an official said.
Since no additional fund has been deposited with SII, the state government has decided to cancel the order for the remaining 1.7 crore doses, which was cleared by the Yediyurappa government two months ago.
The state government had allocated Rs 400 crore for the purchase of 1 crore vaccines in the third week of April and then increased the quantity by another 1 crore in the first week of May.
CN Ashwath Narayan, deputy chief minister and Covid-19 task force chairman, confirmed: “We have decided to cancel the direct purchase order of Covishield doses with SII. Whatever amount was deposited with the manufacturer has more or less been exhausted.”
The state also appears to have scrapped an order for 1 crore Covaxin doses with Bharat Biotech. With supply of Covaxin being unstable, the state had not set aside any dedicated monetary allocation for the purpose.
Waiting game
However, the waiting game will now begin as supply of vaccines will be completely dependent on the Centre. Sources say there has been no communication from the Centre on when and how many doses will arrive. These doses will be used primarily for the 18-44 years age group since the Centre is already supplying doses for those above 45 years.
“We expect the same methodology which was used to vaccinate those above 45 years to be used for the 18-44 group as well. But we do not know when it will come and what the parameters will be,” said an official, who suggested more populous states may get fewer doses to enhance vaccination coverage.
Narayan is optimistic Karnataka will receive more doses compared to other states due to its aggressive vaccination coverage and comparatively smaller population. “With 75% of manufactured vaccines being supplied to state governments, we expect there will be no major disruption in supply. We expect those states which have been aggressive in its vaccination drive to be provided more doses and faster,” he said.