Centre issues Letter of Comfort to Bharat Biotech for 45 lakh doses of Covaxin

Bharat Biotech has secured afresh Letter of Comfort from the Centre for another 45 lakhdoses of its COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, sources said.

Out of the 45 lakh doses, the city-based vaccine makerwill be supplying over eight lakh to some of the friendlycountries such as Mauritius, Philippines and Myanmar, free ofcost as good will gesture sources added.

''The company was given a fresh letter of comfort recentlyfor supplying another 45 lakh doses of Covaxin.

The doses will be dispatched as when the Ministry placesorders with the company,'' sources told PTI.

After having received the government purchase order for55lakh doses, BharatBiotechshipped the first batch ofvaccines (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 16.5 lakh dosesto the Government of India.

Sources further said the supplies from the company dependon the orders being placed by the government.