India’s government has set aside about 500 billion rupees ($7 billion) to vaccinate the world’s most populous country after China against the coronavirus, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration estimates an all-in cost of about $6-$7 per person in the nation of 1.3 billion, the people said, asking not to be identified as the details are private. The money provisioned so far is for the current financial year ending March 31 and there will be no shortage of further funds for this purpose, they added.
A Finance Ministry spokesman couldn’t immediately be reached when tried on his mobile.
Adar Poonawalla, head of the Serum Institute of India Pvt., the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines, has predicted the nation would need about 800 billion rupees to procure and inoculate people living everywhere from the Himalayas to the remote Andaman & Nicobar islands. Apart from buying the treatment, transporting them from manufacturing sites would be a massive undertaking.