Health ministry clarifies new price for COVID-19 vaccines as Cong continues attack on govt

As Congress continues to question BJP's promise to supply the COVID-19 vaccine free of cost to everyone, the Centre on Saturday issued a clarification. The Union Health Ministry in a tweet said that the Government of India's procurement price for both COVID-19 vaccines remains Rs 150 per dose. "GOI procured doses will continue to be provided totally free to states," it added. 

Congress once again engages in Vaccine politics

This statement by the Union Health Ministry came after Congress leader and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh took to his official Twitter handle and alleged that the price of Serum Institute of India's Covidshield vaccine (Rs 400) for the new government procurement is higher than what governments of the US, UK, EU, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh and SA are paying. Stating that the vaccine, which is made in India have a high price for India itself, the Congress leader urged the Centre to renegotiate the price of Serum Insititute's COVID-19 vaccine.

Vaccine politics: Congress & TMC attack Centre over vaccination drive

On Friday, both Congress and TMC scoffed at BJP's promise of administering the COVID-19 vaccine free of cost to everyone in West Bengal after forming the government. According to Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala, people will have to pay Rs.600 per vaccine dose. This is perceived as a reference to the Serum Institute of India's announcement of the price at which it will sell COVISHIELD to state governments and private hospitals. 

Meanwhile, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien stressed that people should not believe BJP as it had failed to fulfill a similar manifesto promise in Bihar. "BJP's free vaccine jumla with two phases to go in Bengal. Remember what BJP did in Bihar? They announced during the election free vaccines. Elections finished, they forgot. Free vaccine jumla, vaccines for all in Bengal, don't believe the BJP, don't trust the BJP," he asserted in a video message. So far, the governments of Bihar, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala have announced free vaccination for all adults. 

COVID-19 vaccination in India

Apart from COVISHIELD and COVAXIN, the DCGI accepted the recommendations of the Subject Expert Committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, paving way for the approval of Sputnik V on April 12. Moreover, the Union government declared that those vaccines that have been granted emergency approval for restricted use by USFDA, EMA, UK MHRA, PMDA Japan, or which are listed in WHO (Emergency Use Listing) will be granted emergency use approval in India. In place of the local clinical trial requirement, the post-approval bridging clinical trial shall be mandated.

In a huge announcement on Monday, the Centre relaxed the age bar for vaccination from May 1 onwards and mentioned that vaccine manufacturers can supply 50 per cent of its doses to state governments and in the open market. The private hospitals shall have to procure their supplies of the COVID-19 vaccines exclusively from this quota. The private vaccination providers shall transparently declare their self-set vaccination price.

However, they will have to follow all protocols such as being captured on the Co-WIN platform and linked to AEFI reporting. At the same time, vaccination shall continue at Government of India vaccination centres for healthcare and frontline workers and those above 45 years. Additionally, the Centre stated that it will allocate vaccine doses to the states from the remaining 50% quota based on factors such as the number of active cases, speed of administration and vaccine wastage.

Coronavirus tally in India

As the world continues to battle against the Coronavirus pandemic, India so far has registered over 1,66,10,481, out of which, 1,38,67,997 have successfully recovered and 1,89,544 have died. As per the latest reports from MoHFW, in the past 24 hours, 3,46,786 new cases, 2,19,838 fresh recoveries and 2,624 deaths have been reported. Currently, the total number of active cases in the country is 25,52,940. 

(Image: PTI-Representative, Twitter-@Jairam_Ramesh)