Iskra ( The Spark)

  9 May 2021: - Government in Supreme court An advance payment of Rs. 787.50 crores was released to Bharat Biotech India Ltd (BBIL) for 05 crore Covaxin doses for the months of May, June, and July. Whereby, it is expected that the current manufacturing of Covaxin of 10 million doses/ month will be enhanced to nearly 100 million doses/ month in the next 8-10 months. After a week …   13 May 2021: - Government to Media VK Paul claims that government will get 55 crore Covaxin between the month of the August to December 2021, that means Bharat biotech will have the capacity to produce 11Cr dose/month. ( Yes, there was/is talk to give covaxin licence to the PSUs to produce vaccine but yet there is no evident development or outcome regarding that yet. So, yet the all burden of the covaxin production is on Bharat Biotech. ) After 2 Weeks... 29 May 2021: - Health Ministry to media Health Ministry said: "The production capacity of Covaxin will be doubled by May-June and then i...

Amidst complaints of vaccine shortages, the Centre has now rolled out phase 3 of Covid vaccination on 19 th  April 2021 where everyone above the age of 18 is eligible for getting vaccinated. But the cost of vaccinating the 18 to 45 age group should either be borne by States or citizens. The many States have announced free vaccines for all adults from May 1 but at the same time, many states complained about the fiscal burden on the state exchequer. So, the natural question that arises is – Does the central government have the fiscal space to do so? The answer lies in the Budget speech dated 1 st  February 2021 where Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman announced “ I have provided 35,000 crores for Covid-19 vaccine in BE 2021-22. I am committed to providing further funds if required" (Paragraph 38).  Two days later on 3 rd  February, Expenditure secretary of the Finance ministry, T.V. Somanathan, addressed the press and elaborated the government ...