He was lambasted by backbenchers over the „pointless policy“ and accused of starting a „needless fight“ with his own party.
Mr Zahawi defended the introduction of vaccine passports which he said would „reduce transmission and serious illness“.
Boris Johnson is already facing a major rebellion over the plans, with more than 50 Tories expected to mutiny.
Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi insists 31 July target for offering doses to all adults will be hit despite ‘tight’ supplies of Pfizer
The European Commission has warned it will impose controls on vaccines that could affect the UK’s supply of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, which is shipped from its manufacturing base in Belgium.
But vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi told Sky News on Tuesday: “I’m confident that the Pfizer vaccine will be delivered.
Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi was bullish about the longer date in a round of interviews this morning – and he also struck an optimistic tone about the prospects of easing lockdown from early March.
He said the restrictions could be taken away ‚gradually‘ from ‚two to three weeks after the middle of February, after we‘ve protected the top four cohorts‘.
Mr Zahawi also insisted that second doses of vaccines will be given within 12 weeks of the first – after Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab refused to confirm yesterday that would be the case.