No balance doses of direct state procurement pending with Covid vaccine manufacturers: Govt

New Delhi, Jun 22 (PTI): The health ministry on Tuesday said the Centre had ensured that the full supplies of COVID-19 vaccines under direct state procurement were provided to the states concerned before June 21.
The ministry issued a statement, saying certain media reports have alleged non-supply of free vaccines for the 18-44 priority age group to the Delhi government amid the ongoing free COVID-19 vaccination drive.
“It is clarified that the Government of India had ensured that full supplies of COVID-19 vaccines under the direct state procurement were provided to the concerned states before June 21,” the statement said. According to the state procurement data, the allocated 5.6 lakh doses of direct state procurement were supplied to Delhi before June 21 by the vaccine manufacturers.
Further, an additional 8.8 lakh vaccine doses under the Centre’s procurement were provided to Delhi for free and more are in the pipeline, which will be supplied by June-end, the statement said.
As on June 22, Delhi has over 9.9 lakh unutilised doses of Covid vaccines, it added.
With effect from June 21, both the state government and Government of India supplies, irrespective of the type of supply, are to be used to vaccinate people above 18 years of age as all categories of priority groups are now unified and are to be provided vaccination for free at the state-designated government Covid vaccination centres (CVCs), the statement said.