Following two are the paragraphs of the AFFIDAVIT DATED 09.05.2021 ON BEHALF OF THE UNION OF INDIA to the supreme court.

Paragraph 30 - “Bharat Biotech Intl Ltd. Has increased production from 90 lakhs/ month to 2 crore doses/ month and further increase is expected up to 5.5 crore doses/month by July 2021”

Paragraph 35 - “It is expected that the current manufacturing of Covaxin of 10 million doses/ month will be enhanced to nearly 100 million doses/ month in the next 8-10 months.”

Here I would like to point out two things to readers. The first is, 10million means 1 crore. Secondly Bharat Biotech (BB) manufactures Covaxin. So, basically, the government has said two different things in two paragraphs.

Furthermore, VK Paul the chief of the covid task force on the vaccine projected to procure 55 crore doses of the covaxin by December 2021. Now let me analyze this number game.

Let goes with the government numbers. In the best possible scenario, Bharat biotech may/will produce 2 crore doses per month for the months of March, April, May, June, and July (Total 10 Cr.). BB will produce the 6 Crore does per month for August, September, October, and November (Total 24 Crore). So, in total, BB can deliver 34 (10+24) crore doses by end of the November while the VK paul made a projection of the 55 crore doses. Yes, there is talk to produce covaxin in some PSUs but it is very unlikely that they can produce 21 crore doses (55-34) in such short span of the 3-4 months.

In this same affidavit, the Government of India submitted to the supreme court that
Para 9 – “to make all possible efforts in procuring vaccines from other countries. It may be kept in mind these efforts of procurement from other countries have their own challenges as, unlike other vaccines in the past, every country of the world needs vaccines for its domestic use at this juncture.”

Para 27.6 -   "With regard to point (vi), at present, the availability of vaccines for next 6 months would be difficult to project as it  depends  upon  the  successful  augmentation  in  existing manufacturing  capacity  of  two  vaccine  manufacturers, the procurement  of  other  vaccines  from  other  countries  and  its quantity, etc....."

Here it is clear that on the 9^th of May, the Government was reluctant to project the future scenario of the 6 months regarding the availability of vaccines. But just after 5 days, VK Paul addressed the press and presented a rosy picture of the procurement where he claimed that there will be the availability of the 216 crore doses by December 2021. I would like to know that what is changed in these 5 days?

On 16^th March, Government said this in the answer to a question in Rajyasabha that the "Government has advised all States and UTs to not enter into an independent agreement with COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers for procurement of vaccines"

On 9^th May, the Government changed the stand and Submitted this in the supreme court "It is submitted that though, under the new vaccine strategy, it is  for  each  State  Government  to procure  the  vaccines as  stated  above......."

From this, it is clear that the central have to take a U-turn about the roles of the state in the vaccination. Now it is well-known fact that many states issue the global tender of the procurement of the vaccines. Better would be the original policy of the government of the centralized procurement.

Question 906 asked by Anil Desai in Rajyasabha -” Whether it is a fact that Government has successfully developed two vaccines for COVID-19 and also started a mammoth vaccination drive across the country.

Answer – “Two vaccines namely Covishield manufactured by M/s Serum Institute of India and Covaxin manufactured by M/s Bharat Biotech International Limited have been granted permission for restricted use in an emergency situation by the National Regulator I.e. Drug Controller General of India [DCG(I)]”

If you observed closely, you may note that MP asked about the “Development of vaccine” while Minister replied about “Manufacturing of the vaccine”. I do not like to speculate about the intention of the minister for doing so, But I just like to tell the reader the fact thathe Covishiled is “developed” by the Oxford-AstraZeneca and “Manufacture” by the Serum Institute of India.