Govt orders Rs 1.10 crore 'Covishield' for Rs 210

(PTI) New Delhi, Ta. Monday, January 11, 2020

The Government of India has placed an order for the purchase of Covishield Covishield Corona vaccine produced by the Serum Institute. The price of the vaccine is Rs 200, while the government will have to pay Rs 210 with GST.

Initially, the government has ordered 1.10 crore vaccines. The vaccine was sent to 60 designated distribution centers across the country from Monday evening. The Indian vaccine is currently the cheapest corona vaccine in the world.

Vaccination is currently the top priority for the country. Thus the vaccine is the work of the Ministry of Health. But given the gravity of the situation, 20 different ministries of the central government are engaged in vaccination work. In addition to health, it includes railways, transport, defense ... etc.

So on the other hand 2 dozen departments of different states are active for vaccination. Various states have set up security, distribution and storage facilities for the quantity of vaccines coming there. Vaccines are currently the top priority project for every state government.

The government had clarified that the first 30 million corona frontline workers would be vaccinated free of cost. It remains to be seen whether the amount of vaccine will be taken from other citizens and if so, how much. In the next round, citizens above 50 years of age and those below 50 years of age who are in poor health will be vaccinated. That number is about 27 crores.

As both the vaccines are manufactured in India, their price has been kept low. The second corona vaccine covacin produced by Bharat Biotech will also be ordered soon. India's vaccination program will begin on Saturday, January 16. It will be the largest vaccination program in the world. Prime Minister Modi also held a meeting with Chief Ministers of various states today on vaccine distribution and vaccination.

He said no one except a frontline worker should come forward to get vaccinated in the first round. We politicians should also wait till the turn of vaccination. At present, there are only 2.25 lakh active cases of corona in India. In September, more than 95,000 cases were registered daily, against which the number of daily cases has now reached around 16,000.

A vaccine that affects a single dose has been developed

Stanford University in the US is working on a new vaccine for corona. The vaccine is supposed to develop the immune system in a single dose. There are currently two doses of corona vaccine approved worldwide. Another dose is to be taken 25-30 days after taking one dose. The Stanford vaccine has been tested on mice, which have been shown to be effective. If it proves to be really useful then humans will be allowed to experiment.

The Co-Win app is not yet available

The government has developed a co-win app for the vaccine. This app is ready, so there is no need to download it right now. If you see another app in the Play Store, App Store in the name of Co-Win, refrain from downloading it. Many fake and fraudulent apps have been created in the name of Co-Win. Financial fraud in the name of the app has now started as registration in the app is required for Corona vaccine. But the fact is that the government has not yet instructed to download the Co-Win app.

Bioentech target of 2 billion doses

The company has set a target of 2 billion doses for the vaccine produced by US company Pfizer and German company Bioentech. Earlier, Pfizer announced that in 2021, we will be able to produce 1.3 billion doses of vaccine. Now the company said it has built the capacity to produce 2 billion doses by the end of the year.

Modi should get vaccinated first: NCP

"Many people in the country have doubts about the corona vaccine, so Prime Minister Narendra Modi should first get rid of the suspicion by getting vaccinated," the Nationalist Congress Party said. Maharashtra Minister and NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik made the comment via video message. It may be mentioned that the process of vaccination will start from January 16 across the country. Malik said people were still not aware of the corona vaccine so the prime minister himself should take an interest and set an example.