Serum Institute of India (SII), which is manufacturing Covishield vaccine, on Wednesday announced that the Covishield vaccine will be available at Rs 600 per dose for private hospitals and Rs 400 per jab for state governments. The same vaccine is being sold to the Centre at Rs 150 per dose.
This is a very strange move by the SII. The price of the vaccine should be uniform. Many states, including Arunachal Pradesh do not have their own resources and depend on the centre for funds. In this scenario, the states which have more resources and funds, will get access to vaccines.
It will be very unfair on the poor states. The SII should rethink and try to work out a price, which is reasonable. The price of Covishield vaccines should be equal for both the centre and the state.
In another development, the government of Arunachal has written to the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd Pune and Bharat Biotech International limited seeking details for purchase of Covid-19 vaccines. This is a good move. Effort should be made to directly purchase vaccines from the manufacturers.
It is believed that still around eight lakh population of the state are to be vaccinated. The state has been battling the shortage of Covid vaccines for some time. Hopefully, the move of the state government to start contact with the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd Pune and Bharat Biotech International limited seeking details for purchase of Covid-19 vaccines will help mitigate shortage of vaccines. It will also aid the effort to speed up the vaccination drive in the state.