By Siddhant Vashistha
Amidst governmental failure and mismanagement in the current second wave of Covid-19, and beyond the lack of oxygen, hospital beds and drug shortages, India has a bigger problem – vaccination. India has vaccinated only 8% of its population.
The free market farce
India’s two major vaccine manufacturers have been unclear about their vaccine pricing. They have even increased the prices for the vaccines during a raging pandemic, while the poorest of this country struggle to afford one square meal per day. Both Bharat Biotech(BB) and Serum Institute of India(SII) have increased their vaccine prices to ₹ (rupees) 600 and ₹300, respectively, for states to buy the vaccine. Serum’s Adar Poonawalla even went on to call the company’s 100-rupee price reduction from ₹400 to ₹300 a “philanthropic gesture”. The prices of BB’s Covaxin will go as high as ₹1,200 in private hospitals.
The vaccine manufacturers have a similar rationale for this exorbitant pricing – expansion. To bring the ideals of the free market into a public health emergency is unbecoming for the country, not just because most Indians cannot afford the vaccine but the fact that the research done to make these vaccines was publicly funded.
Centre-State disparity
Moreover, the prices of the vaccines are higher for the states to buy. Although there are around 23 states that have committed to providing free vaccines, there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the procurement of vaccines. The question of allocation of a certain number of doses (not enough for all) to states and then to private and government run hospitals is still unanswered. It leaves enough room for selling the vaccine on the black market and subsequent profiteering and exploitation. Clearly, the wealthy states will buy more vaccines, and this will also not be in accordance with the demands of the country. This is our own, homegrown version of vaccine inequality that has layers of states, income groups, and the Below the Poverty Line category in the bottom tier.
This is when the Centre (Indian Government) had collected ₹9,677.9 crore through the PM-CARES fund as of May 2020. This goes on to show that the Centre has the capacity to fund a free vaccine for all if the PM-CARES fund is put to proper use. The tenets of cooperative federalism are at a sheer crossroads here as the states are obliged to pay ₹600 for a shot for which the Centre pays ₹150. Why should the Centre allow this exorbitant pricing by the corporates? The states do not have any bargaining power in front of the vaccine manufacturers either, whereas the Centre has plenty of it. This is in context to the Centre’s ₹3,000 crore aid to both SII and BB to “ramp up production”, the same ramping up that made these manufacturers increase their vaccine prices to begin with.
The only thing that would make sense in this emergency situation would be to vaccinate everyone free of cost without getting into an argument about a “reasonable profit margin,” and with the Centre’s ₹350 billion budget allocated for vaccination, this should not be tough.
“This story was written in early May. After much deliberation, pressure from the people, and chiding from the Supreme Court, a new vaccine policy was announced by PM Modi, which is going to come into effect from June 21,2021 in India. Under the new policy the Central Government will procure 75% of vaccines and the states would not have to buy separately from the manufacturers, leaving the rest 25% to be bought by private hospitals. This will hence end the Centre-State disparity, relieving the state governments from buying at higher rates from the manufacturers.”
Siddhant Vashistha is a third-year student of journalism. He’s an environmentalist at heart and loves to debate ideas. He also enjoys observing the dance of nature.
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