India has launched a new vaccine drive, announcing a record eight million jabs on the first day of the programme.
The new policy sees the federal government buying Covid-19 jabs from manufacturers and supplying to states.
India is one of the largest vaccine makers in the world but its own vaccination drive has been moving at a slow pace.
It has fully vaccinated just over 5% of the total eligible population so far and shortages persist in many states.
To scale up the vaccination drive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced earlier this month that everyone would get “free vaccines” from 21 June.
On the first day of the new policy he praised the pace of India’s vaccine programme.
How has the policy changed?
Prime Minister Modi’s announcement came in a national address on TV, in which he talked about the history and logistics of vaccine programmes in India.
Under the previous Covid vaccine policy, half of all vaccines produced in India went to the federal government, and the rest were sent to state administrations and private hospitals.
Although the states competed on the open market for the vaccines doses for 18-44 age group, recipients were able to get them for free at state government’s vaccination centres.
Meanwhile, the federal government was vaccinating frontline workers and those aged above 45 years – also for free.
Under the new policy the federal government will now buy 75% of all vaccines manufactured.
The state governments will receive their vaccines doses for free from the federal government, instead of negotiating directly with manufacturers.
However, it’s worth noting that the remaining 25% of vaccines are still set aside for procurement by private hospitals as before.
These vaccinations are not free – and have to be paid for at private hospitals.
The federal government has fixed prices for the three approved vaccines at 780 rupees ($10.7; £7.5) for Covishield, 1,145 rupees ($15.7; £11) for Sputnik V, and 1,410 rupees ($19.3; £13.6) for Covaxin.
