Jharkhand has been assured supply of over 35 lakh doses of vaccines from the Centre in August to continue the ongoing immunisation drive against Covid-19, the latest supply schedule released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Tuesday said.

While the Centre will provide as many as 27,46,930 vaccine doses for free, at least 7,95,250 doses will be made available for purchase by private hospitals and clinics involved in the vaccination drive.

With at least 35,32,180 vaccine doses assured, the state will now be in a position to inoculate at least 1 lakh residents daily in August, health officials said. Jharkhand, as per records with the health department, has at least 3,377 session sites for vaccination and the infrastructure to immunize over 3 lakh residents every day.

The state, as per government records, received around 25 lakh vaccine doses in July. However, delayed supply of vaccines hit the immunisation drive for several days in Jharkhand as districts ran out of vaccines, officials said. Owing to the crisis of vaccines, the state recorded the lowest single day vaccination figure of barely 13,000 in the month of July.

While the increase in the number of vaccine doses in August may help in smooth running of the campaign, many residents desiring to get Covaxin doses or waiting for their second dose of the Bharat Biotech-made vaccine may have to deal with a shortage, sources said.

As per the schedule of vaccine supply, Jharkhand will receive 24,08,650 Covishield doses and 3,38,280 Covaxin doses free of cost. At least 6,88,130 Covishield doses and 1,07,120 Covaxin doses will be made available for purchase by private hospitals. The figures indicate that on an average, the state may only get the freedom to administer around 15,000 Covaxin doses every day.

The demand for Covaxin, primarily due to the shorter gap between the two doses, led to a ruckus at some session sites in Jharkhand this month. Many beneficiaries of the second dose of the vaccine also complained about the unavailability of vaccines at session sites close to their homes. In the wake of the growing demand for Covaxin, some districts decided to allow only online slot booking for beneficiaries of this vaccine.

Jharkhand has so far received 93,02,030 doses of vaccines from the Centre for running the immunisation drive against Covid-19, highlights data with the National Health Mission (NHM). As per NHM data shared on Tuesday evening, the state has so far administered at least one dose of vaccine to 90,32,969 residents, including some who took the Russian Sputnik V vaccine procured separately by private hospitals.