India Needs 66.6Cr Covid-19 Doses, Says Union Health Ministry

According to the recent calculation performed by the Union Health Ministry, the total number of Covid-19 vaccines required in India is 66.6 crore. Keeping the latest calculation in mind, the government of India needs to invest in the purchase of 111 doses to perform inoculation of every 50 beneficiaries. In other words, to perform vaccination of two doses to 30 crore people, the government should have 66.6 crore vaccines against the novel coronavirus. It is to be noted that earlier 60 crore doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were planned for purchase.

All the state governments have been issued guidelines that feature the formula used for estimating vaccine needs at block, state and district levels. It is to be noted that while the wastage percentage varies for different vaccines under the Universal Immunisation Programme, 10% has been fixed for “allowable wastage” for the Covid-19 vaccine. Determination of the wastage multiplication factor (WMF), which determines the estimated number of doses to be purchased, is done using the same.

As per the ministers and experts, the WMF for Covid-19 vaccines is 1.1. If, for instance, the Indian government is purchasing doses for 100 people, it should be first multiplied by 2 (since every person needs to be administered 2 doses). Then, the number, i.e., 200 is multiplied by 1.1, to calculate wastage and finally, reach a total number of doses to be needed. The said formula is believed to avoid coronavirus disease dosage shortage, even if there is a wastage of doses due to any reason. The formula will only work effectively if logistic, storage, management and administration of Covid-19 vaccines is done efficiently.