Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: On a day fresh infections caused by a new strain of coronavirus, called Kappa, and the previous one Delta Plus, were reported in Uttar Pradesh, the Union Finance Ministry said it estimated nearly 670 million Covid-19 vaccines will be administered before September under the Centre’s revised centralised vaccination policy, started on June 21
On Friday, the ministry directed Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand to ramp up their vaccination drive as greater coverage could provide a crucial boost to domestic demand, according to media reports.
The average daily vaccination rate doubled from 1.93 million doses in May to 4.13 million in June after the implementation of the new vaccination policy on June 21, the ministry said.
On Thursday, the Centre earmarked a fresh Rs.23,000 crore fund to create healthcare infrastructure in the country to augment the key requirements.
“Maintaining a rapid pace of the vaccination drive and quickly bridging healthcare infrastructure gaps across both urban and rural areas would emerge as the most sustainable stimulus for durable recovery of the Indian economy. At the current inoculation pace, it is estimated that India will administer over 670 million doses before the festive season begins in September.
“A significant coverage by the vaccine could provide a crucial boost for domestic demand. Vaccination remains the keyguard against any prospective future waves and the coverage of the population needs to be enhanced across all States,” the ministry’s Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) said in its Monthly Economic Review for June.
Resilient tax collections by the Centre in the first two months of the current fiscal year (April and May) and sustained momentum in capital expenditure, particularly in the road and rail sector, augurs well for pivoting targeted fiscal support for continued economic recovery.
The report said the recent economic relief package would further oil the wheels of the capital expenditure cycle via implementation of the production-linked scheme and streamlining of processes for public partnership projects and asset monetisation.
Consumption sentiment is expected to pick up with further enhancement of employment support under the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana (ANBRY) and wider Bharat-Net digitisation coverage.
Free food grains and enhanced fertiliser subsidies under the package along with continued MGNREGA implementation, on the other hand, would serve as a cushion for rural demand in the coming quarters, the report added.
