The Centre has assured Jharkhand that it will get over 16 lakh vaccine doses in the second half of July to continue its immunisation programme against Covid-19, health officials said on Thursday, adding that the vaccines would be delivered in at least six installments.

According to the schedule of vaccine supply shared by the Union ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW), Jharkhand will be provided at least 14,66,300 doses of Covishield and 1,35,100 doses of Covaxin between July 15 and July 29.

The first lot of 3,16,980 Covishield doses reached the state by air on Thursday and was subsequently distributed among the 24 districts, officials said. After a lull of several days, the vaccination drive in Jharkhand regained momentum after about 3 lakh doses were sent to the state earlier this week. The state, as per government data, has about 4 lakh doses in stock, enough to inoculate about 1 lakh residents daily until fresh supplies arrive, officials said.

As per the schedule fixed by the Centre, on July 21, at least 2,13,340 Covishield doses and 31,130 Covaxin doses will be delivered to Jharkhand. The state will receive 2,30,430 Covishield doses and 35,570 Covaxin doses on July 24. At least 2,53,580 Covishield doses will be delivered to Jharkhand the next day and 4,51,970 Covishield doses will reach the state on July 29. The state will also get 68,400 doses of Covaxin on the same day.

“The vaccination drive will be intensified as we will have enough doses in stock to go all out with the campaign if deliveries are made as per the schedule,” said Naman Priyesh Lakra, special officer on duty for Covid-19 vaccinations in Jharkhand.

As per government data, the state has so far received about 80 lakh doses of vaccines and administered the jabs to over 78 lakh residents. Jharkhand is also expecting supply of 1,47,740 doses of Covishield on August 4, but it will be included in the quota for the next month, officials said.

Jharkhand, as per the schedule of vaccine supply fixed by the Centre last month, was promised supply of 25 lakh doses in July. However, the state received only about 10 lakh doses until Thursday. As per records with the National Health Mission (NHM), Jharkhand has at least 3377 session sites for vaccination and the infrastructure to inoculate around 3 lakh people on a day. However, due to vaccine crisis, almost half of the session sites have been non-operational this month.