Centre’s info to states: In under 2 months, private hospitals got 2 crore Covishield jabs, 1.08 crore still left

Together, these hospitals purchased 1.97 crore doses of Covishield from May 1 to June 22 under the open market policy, which allows them to purchase up to 25 per cent of total vaccine supply available in the country.

Private hospitals across the country have 1.08 crore Covishield vaccine doses as pending stock, according to a presentation by the Centre to the states on Tuesday.

Together these hospitals purchased 1.97 crore doses of Covishield from May 1 to June 22 under the open market policy, which allows them to purchase up to 25 per cent of total vaccine supply available in the country. Of 1.97 crore doses, the data show, they have administered 88.9 lakh doses as of June 22 — an average of 1.71 lakh doses per day.

An official said the data of vaccine stock is based on information declared by private sector to the government.

The maximum pending stock is with Maharashtra (26.33 lakh doses; it also purchased the most), followed by Karnataka (16.74 lakh) and West Bengal (16.65 lakh). Data for Covaxin was not shared in the meeting, but officials said its quantity is much smaller and will not change the trend.

Hospitals in Maharashtra purchased 52.69 lakh doses, and at 26.36 lakh have used nearly half of it. Private sector in Karnataka has utilised 47.12 per cent (14.93 lakh) of 31.68 lakh doses, West Bengal used 38 per cent (10.24 lakh) of 26.90 lakh doses, and Delhi 33.9 per cent (5.40 lakh) of 15.89 lakh doses purchased in this period, according to the Centre.

Ten states — West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Haryana, and Delhi — have 89 per cent of the total pending stock in the private sector.

The lowest utilisation by the private sector — or less than 10 per cent — has been recorded in Mizoram, Bihar, Manipur and Puducherry. This, despite the fact that these states procured less than 25,000 doses each.

The data shows Daman and Diu’s private sector managed to buy only 150 doses, and used 55 of them.

Maximum utilisation in the private sector has been seen in Goa, Gujarat and Haryana — these states utilised 63-69 per cent of their stock. While hospitals in Goa procured only 15,650 doses, Gujarat and Haryana bought 3.89 lakh and 6.50 lakh doses, respectively.

Across India 4,000 to 5,000 private sessions for inoculation are held every day. Maharashtra has 400-500 sessions by the private sector, followed by Karnataka (300-400), West Bengal (200-300), and Delhi (100-150). This includes corporate, vaccination camps in residential complexes, and Covid vaccination centres (CVC) within hospitals. Private immunisation proportion is 40-50 percent of daily immunisation in Maharashtra, while Uttar Pradesh with less than 100 private sessions a day is more dependent on government centres for bulk of vaccination. The private sector in UP bought 9.59 lakh doses and administered 38.2 percent of them.

Until May-end, the private sector in India had procured 1.05 crore Covishield doses from Serum Institute of India and 15.21 lakh Covaxin doses from Bharat Biotech. Nine hospitals had cornered 50 per cent of Covishield and Covaxin stock, with most stock purchased by hospitals in the NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata in May.

On June 7, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a new vaccine policy, under which private hospitals can charge a maximum of Rs 780 for a Covishield dose and Rs 1,410 per Covaxin dose. Since June 21, the Centre is procuring 75 per cent of the total stock and allocating it to states; the private sector continues to procure the remaining 25 per cent.

Private hospitals said their immunisation numbers have reduced after the June 7 announcement. Many hospitals that carried large immunisation camps in housing societies and corporate offices have reduced the pace. Two factors have affected this — fixed cost per dose that gives less profit margin in off-site camps and an overall reduction in demand for vaccination.

A spokesperson from Apollo Hospitals said they have noted a decline in CVCs. “Earlier 98-99 percent people who booked slots would turn up. Now that has reduced to 80-85 per cent,” the spokesperson said.

“The critical demand for vaccination was in May from corporates and housing societies. Now demand has also reduced,” said Dr Joy Chakraborty, chairman of CII Western Region Task Force on healthcare and chief operating officer in PD Hinduja Hospital.

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