Centre issues Letter of Comfort to Bharat Biotech for 4.5 mn Covaxin doses

The Centre has issued a fresh Letter of Comfort to Bharat Biotech for another 4.5 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine, it is understood. Out of the 4.5 million doses, the Hyderabad-based vaccine maker will be supplying over 800,000 doses to some of the friendly countries such as Mauritius, Philippines and Myanmar free of cost as a goodwill gesture.

"The company was given a fresh letter of comfort recently for supplying another 4.5 million doses of Covaxin. The doses will be dispatched as when the Ministry places orders with the company," sources have claimed.

After having received the government purchase order for 5.5 million doses, BharatBiotech shipped the first batch of vaccines (each vial containing 20 doses) to Gannavaram (Vijayawada), Guwahati, Patna, Delhi, Kurukshetra, Bangalore, Pune, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur, Chennai and Lucknow, it said. Bharat Biotech said it has also donated 1.65 million doses to the Government of India.

Sources further said that the supplies from the company depend on the orders being placed by the government.