Free Covid precaution doses for 18-59 age group for 75 days at govt centres

Special drive to be held at govt centres; will reduce vaccine wastage

Over the next 75 days, any adult citizen in the country can walk into a government vaccination centre and get a free precaution (booster) dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. The Centre announced on Wednesday that as part of the celebrations marking 75 years of India’s Independence, the third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine would be administered free to all above 18 years of age.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted: “As part of #AzadiKaAmritMahotsav celebrations, free...precaution dose will be administered to all the citizens above 18 years of age at government vaccination centres, from 15th July 2022, for the next 75 days.” This would add an “extra layer of safety”, he added.

The move is likely to improve the off-take of booster doses in the 18-59 age group. Data shows that only around 1 per cent of the eligible adults in this age group, excluding healthcare and frontline workers, have taken their third paid shot at private vaccination centres. India’s precaution dose coverage for all was around 8 per cent of the eligible population of 640 million as of July 13 (estimated considering a six-month gap between the second dose and the precautionary dose). 

India opened precaution shots for all adults on April 10. Earlier, it had allowed senior citizens and healthcare and frontline workers to take the booster shot from January 10. Last week, the government also reduced the gap between the second and third doses to six months from nine months.

The latest move will ensure that India does not waste vaccines, the bulk of which is nearing the end of their shelf life. Covishield, the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, which constitutes about 80 per cent of India’s overall Covid-19 vaccination, will expire in September as it has a shelf life of nine months and the last batches were made in December. Serum Institute of India (SII), the maker of Covishield, stopped making the vaccine thereafter as it had accumulated a huge stockpile at its Pune plant. According to some estimates, SII will waste nearly 200 million doses of Covishield by September.

Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, on the other hand, has a 12-month shelf life. The company is sitting on stocks of around 50 million doses, and has finished supplying the tendered amounts to the Centre during the first quarter of 2022.

Slow progress

• Over the last week, booster doses for 18-59 age group accounted for only 28% of total boosters administered
• Around 1% of those between 18 and 59 years have received booster shots
• Overall, only 8% of eligible people have received boosters
• Till Sept 28 (when 75-day period will end), 830 million people will be eligible for boosters

According to government data, around 100 million balance and unutilised vaccine doses were lying with states and Union Territories as of July 13. While one does not know the break-up, the bulk of these doses is likely to be Covishield.

Giving these shots for free is likely to cost the government exchequer anywhere between Rs 270 crore to Rs 1,600 crore, depending on the off-take. The government had raised the procurement price of Covishield (Rs 215 per dose) and Covaxin (Rs 225 per dose) in July last year. Considering the same price was paid in subsequent tenders, a Business Standard analysis found that the Centre would spend Rs 271.15 crore for the 75-day drive if vaccination continues at the current pace, considering Rs 220 per dose on an average.

If India continues to vaccinate at the current pace (164,337 doses per day) for the age group of 18-59 years, then we can cover 12.3 million people in 75 days. If one considers the peak booster dose administration number (984,676 doses), then we can cover 73.9 million people in the 18-59 years age group.

Roughly 500,000 precaution doses are given daily, but most of it is for healthcare, frontline workers and senior citizens.

According to a LocalCircles survey in the first week of July that covered over 15,000 respondents, around 14 per cent more people were likely to take their third shots if these were given free. At the moment, one has to pay Rs 225 for the vaccine and Rs 150 as the administration fee at a private clinic.