Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech on Tuesday, 19 January, received a fresh “Letter of Comfort” from the central government for another 45 lakh doses of its COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin, reported PTI.
As a gesture of good will, Bharat Biotech will also be supplying over eight lakh doses of Covaxin to a few friendly countries such as Mauritius, Philippines and Myanmar out of these 45 lakh doses.
These vaccines will be supplied free of cost. The company has also donated 16.5 Lakh doses to the Union government.
Sources told PTI that in the next couple of days, the company will also be dispatching 20 lakh doses of the earlier order from Hyderabad and the company will keep dispatching the doses as and when the ministry places the order with them.
Vaccine Doses To Be Dispatched In Bits And Pieces
Bharat Biotech shipped the first batch of vaccine doses (each vial containing 20 doses) to Gannavaram (Vijayawada), Guwahati, Patna, Delhi, Kurukshetra, Bangalore, Pune, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur, Chennai and Lucknow after receiving the purchase order for 55 lakh doses, reported PTI.
Sources further said the supplies from the company depends on the orders being placed by the government.
Sources told PTI that that unlike a regular tender, the order will be dispatched in bits and pieces as it is not possible to dispatch all the doses in a single shot.
The supply of the promised doses (over eight lakh) to various countries will be monitored by the Ministry of External Affairs, sources were quoted as telling PTI.
(With inputs from PTI)
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