Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently announced ‘Tika Utsav’ between April 11 and 14 to vaccinate as many eligible people as possible against COVID-19. However, a recent report collated from the Union Health Ministry data has found that India has COVID-19 vaccine stock for 5.5 days on average at the current rate of vaccination, with just over 12 days’ worth in the pipeline. Several states, including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand have less than three days’ stock presently.
The report, originally published in Times of India, put together data available up till 12.30 pm on Thursday. While Andhra Pradesh has 1.2 days’ worth of vaccines, 14.2 days’ worth of stock is in the pipeline. Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand have 1.6, 2.5, 2.9 days’ of COVID-19 vaccines with them presently. Uttarakhand has only 2.9 days’ worth of supply in the pipeline.
Among the southern states, apart from Andhra Pradesh, the others have fared better. While Karnataka has 8.2 days’ of COVID-19 vaccines in stock, 15 days’ worth of supply is in the pipeline. Kerala and Telangana have stock for 13.6 and 13.8 days respectively, with 22.8 and 20.3 days’ of stock in the pipeline, respectively. Tamil Nadu has the highest stock of vaccines presently with 44.9 days’ supply in hand, and supply for 50.9 days in the pipeline.
Maharashtra, which has been reporting some of the highest numbers of daily COVID-19 cases, has over 15 lakh vaccines in stock, for 3.8 days; and 8.8 days’ of vaccines in the pipeline. However, the report points out that since it averages over 3.9 lakh doses over the week – highest in India – the stock of 15 lakh vaccine doses will not be enough for four days.
The data also showed that on average, over 35 lakh people were vaccinated daily since April 1. Overall, over 9.1 vaccines have been used, and 1.9 crore vaccines are remaining in India. There are also 2.4 million vaccines in the pipeline, according to the report.