Driven by headlines, not deadlines: Cong
Vaccines are still not free as 25% have to be taken at a cost in pvt hospitals. The govt is driven by headlines, not deadlines.
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 8
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the decision to revert to centralised procurement of Covid vaccines for free supply to states from June 21, the government ordered 44 crore additional doses for supplies starting August until December.
Of these, 25 crore doses have been ordered from Serum Institute of India and 19 crore from Bharat Biotech.
Free jabs for adults to cost govt Rs50K cr
Free jabs to around 95 crore adults in India will entail a total spending of Rs45,000 crore -Rs50,000 crore. This is higher than Rs35,000 cr that was announced in the Budget.
Vax nod likely for Pregnant women
AIIMS (Delhi) Director Randeep Guleria, part of the government’s expert group on vaccine plan changes, said India was awaiting safety data and once it was out, approval may be granted to vaccinate pregnant women.
Also, the government today issued an order capping the prices for administration of three approved vaccines in private hospitals across India. The maximum price that can be charged per dose by private vaccine centres is Rs 780 for Covishield, Rs 1,410 for Covaxin and Rs 1,145 for Sputnik V. The Health Ministry has written to all states informing them of the price caps. The final costs are based on price per dose declared by manufacturers (Rs 600 Covishield; Rs 1,200 Covaxin and Rs 948 Sputnik V), plus GST at the rate of 5 per cent and maximum service charge of Rs 150 per dose. Niti Aayog Member (Health) VK Paul today said 53.6 crore doses were available for administration till July and the two Indian manufacturers had been paid 30 per cent advance for 44 crore doses to speed up the national inoculation programme starting August.
Driven by headlines, not deadlines: Cong
Vaccines are still not free as 25% have to be taken at a cost in pvt hospitals. The govt is driven by headlines, not deadlines.
“From August onwards, the challenge will not be vaccine availability, but absorption. We will need to speed up vaccinations,” Paul said as India recorded 86,498 daily Covid cases, the lowest since April 3 and a 79% decline from the May 7 peak of 4.14 lakh cases.
The developments coincided with the Health Ministry today issuing revised Covid vaccine guidelines under which states would not have to spend anything on jabs.
Paul also dismissed the Congress’ accusations that the PM’s announcements were rooted in adverse apex court remarks on the government’s vaccine policy.
“We respect the Supreme Court’s concerns, but the government has been evaluating the decentralised procurement model ever since it was implemented on May 1. The PM held two review meetings on May 15 and 21 and directed that an alternate model be developed. On May 24, we met vaccine manufacturers and discussed the nuances. A feedback was given to the PM 15 days ago and the announcement came yesterday,” the expert said.
Among the 13 states/UTs that had written to the PM to restart central procurement of vaccines are Punjab, Kerala, Sikkim, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, AP, Arunachal, Odisha, Tripura and Maharashtra.
Announced yesterday, the government’s new vaccine policy stated centrally procured vaccines would be distributed free to states based on their population, disease burden, vaccination progress, etc.