New Delhi, May 31: The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that the entire eligible population would be vaccinated by the end of 2021. At present, there are two COVID-19 vaccines – Covishield and COVAXIN available in India. In April this year, Sputnik V was also given approval for emergency use in India. The Russian vaccine is likely to be available in select private hospitals in India from June.

The Centre targets to procure 20 to 25 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses by July-end and 30 crore doses in August-September, informed government sources on Sunday. As per reports, the Serum Institute of India (SII) has initiated the process of ramping up the production of vaccines and will provide 10 crore doses of Covishield to the Central government by the next month and 10 to 12 crore doses by July. Supreme Court Pulls Up Centre Over COVID-19 Vaccination Policy And Mandatory Registration on CoWIN Portal, Says Policy Makers Must Have 'Ears on Ground'.

Know here price, gap between doses and other details about COVID-19 vaccines in India.

Gap Between Two Doses:

As per the latest government notification, the gap between two doses of COVAXIN should be at least four weeks, i.e. 28 days. At the same time, the Covishield second dose gap has been revised twice. Initially, the two doses of Covishield were meant to be administered four to six weeks apart. The Centre then revised it to four to eight weeks. As per the latest notification, the gap has been roughly increased to three months. The gap between two Sputnik doses is recommended at 21 days.

Pricing of Vaccines:

If we talk about the pricing of COVID-19 vaccines for above 45-year-old people with co-morbities, Covishield and COVAXIN vaccines will be provided free of cost at government hospitals. Initially, private hospitals were allowed to charge Rs 250 per dose, including the cost of administering the vaccine. However, for people between 18-44 years, pricing of vcaccin eis different state to state. COVID-19 Vaccination in India: Entire Eligible Population Will Be Vaccinated by the End of 2021; Centre Tells SC.

Serum Institute of India's Covishield is provided to States at Rs 300 per dose, while it is priced at Rs 600 per dose to private hospitals. Bharat Biotech's COVAXIN is priced at Rs 400 per dose for States and sold at Rs 1,200 per dose to private hospitals. Sputnik V vaccine will be rolled out across all Apollo hospitals in India at Rs 1,125. So far, over 4.3 crore people have been fully vaccinated, while close to 21 crore vaccine doses have been administered.

Efficacy: 

COVAXIN has shown an efficacy of 78% in preventing symptomatic Covid-19 in the final phase 3 analysis. As per AstraZeneca, Covishield demonstrated vaccine efficacy of 76 percent (CI: 59% to 86%) after a first dose, with protection maintained to the second dosea and With an inter-dose interval of 12 weeks or more, vaccine efficacy increased to 82 percent. Sputnik V efficacy is reportedly over 95 percent.

Earlier in the Day, the top court slammed the Centre over its vaccination and its pricing policy. The apex court also pulled up the Centre for mandatory registration on the CoWIN portal for people to get vaccinated without keeping in mind the real "digital India" situation.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 31, 2021 05:15 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).