P Chidambaram (File image)

Terming the Centre's decision to allow multiple prices for vaccines "discriminatory", senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Friday suggested states to jointly form a price negotiation committee to work out a uniform rate with the manufacturers.

Chidambaram also accused the central government of having abdicated its responsibility and surrendering to corporate profiteering.

"The central government's decision to allow multiple prices for vaccines is discriminatory and regressive. States must unanimously reject the decision.

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"The best way forward is for the state governments to jointly form a Price Negotiation Committee and offer to negotiate a uniform price with the two vaccine manufacturers," the Congress leader said in a series of tweets.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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States must jointly negotiate uniform vaccine price with manufacturers: P Chidambaram

P Chidambaram also accused the central government of having abdicated its responsibility and surrendering to corporate profiteering.

P Chidambaram (File image)

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