'1 crore Covid vaccines per day by mid-July', claims ICMR chief

Chief of India's top medical body ICMR, Dr Balram Bhargava, has said that one crore Covid vaccines will be available every day by mid-July, or early August. Doubling down on the govt's target of vaccinating all adults in the country by the end of the year, Dr Bhargava on Tuesday pointed to the large population and called for patience. Dr Bhargava said that as existing manufacturers scale up capacity, and the newer ones find their feet, he does not see any vaccine shortage in the future.

"There is no shortage of vaccines. This (shortage) is what you feel if you want to vaccinate the country within a month (but) our population is four times that of the United States. Need to have some patience... by mid-July, or early-August, we'll have enough doses for a crore a day," he said.

On Monday the Supreme Court flagged "various flaws" in the centre's vaccination policy, including availability and pricing, and gave it two weeks to respond to its queries.