India may spend Rs 45,000 crore on COVID-19 vaccines, which is about a quarter more than the budgeted amount, reported Reuters quoting two government sources. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the nation on Monday, announced free vaccines for all adults (18 years old and above) from June 21.

Also read: Entire eligible population to get COVID vaccines by 2021 end: Centre to SC

Earlier, all states had to pay for vaccination for those between the ages of 18 and 45. This policy was widely criticised.

The previously budgeted amount for vaccines was Rs 35,000 crore. One of the sources told the news agency that a part of the increase could be due to an increase in the cost of domestically manufactured vaccines. 

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India is currently manufacturing two vaccines – AstraZeneca/Oxford University’s vaccine (dubbed as Covishield) and the indigenous shot Covaxin, developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech. The country will launch Russia’s Sputnik V in the middle of this month.

India started its mass vaccination drive on January 16 but has, till now, inoculated just 5% of its adult population of about 950 million. Several states suffered vaccine scarcity as they ran out of shots and had to shut down several vaccination centres.

Also read: List of countries vaccinating children against COVID-19

The Centre’s policy, known as vaccine diplomacy, of exporting millions of doses of vaccines without securing stock at home was also widely criticised.