The mismatch between reported production numbers of Covid vaccines in India and the level of daily vaccination seems particularly acute in the case of Covaxin. Official data shows 2.1 crore doses of Bharat Biotech’s vaccine had been administered across the country till Thursday morning. Putting together statements from the company and the Centre indicate at least 6 crore doses should have been available for use in India. So where are the missing two-thirds?
Moreover, the Aam Aadmi Party grap the issue and party MLA Atishi told The Daily Guardian that the government’s vaccine drive has stopped in schools and this is the case throughout the country while in private hospitals, vaccination is still going on at different rates. India is currently using mainly two ‘made-in India’ jabs – Covishield manufactured by the Serum Institute and Covaxin of Bharat Biotech – and Russian-made Sputnik V at a smaller scale to inoculate its population.
“This is a big racket. At government centres where vaccination was given free to the youth, vaccines are in shortage there, while vaccinations are going on at higher prices like Rs 900 to 1350 per dose at private hospitals,” she alleged. “Many vaccines are being approved across the world. Pfizer vaccine has been approved in 85 countries, Moderna vaccine has been approved in 46 countries and J&J is approved in 41 countries.
“Then why these three vaccines were not given emergency authorisation. If WHO can approve them, why can’t India? This clearly shows that the Centre has created this artificial scarcity to favour Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech,” she alleged. She further said these two companies do not have manufacturing capacity but the Centre has not approved more vaccines. “The Centre created such an artificial scarcity that states have to buy from them only. The Centre should respond to this,” she said.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said Atishi’s allegation is unfounded as scarcity has not been created by the government. Atishi should know that SII and Bharat Biotech don’t stand to gain by the scarcity because scarcity means the entry of foreign manufacturers. Creating scarcity and putting general people at discomfort is the specialty of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, he claimed. “He spoke about hospital beds scarcity which forced people to pay hefty fees to private hospitals, he spoke of oxygen scarcity and we saw oxygen mafia loot, we saw black marketing of Covid medicines as he spoke of medicines shortage,” Kapoor claimed.
Basically, the whole drama started after the allegation of Sambit Patra said only 13% of people, who have been vaccinated in the national capital, have got their vaccines from the Delhi government.
“Nearly 46 lakh free vaccines were supplied by the Centre to Delhi. Private hospitals procured about 9 lakh doses of vaccines while the Delhi government managed to procure just a little over 8 lakh.”
Patra said private hospitals have managed to get more vaccines on their own than the Delhi government. He said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government should also clarify how many doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine has it ordered and paid for so far.
In between, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan said on Friday that the production of vaccines is being planned in the country in a planned manner. The government is determined to provide vaccine supplements to all adults in the country by the end of December this year. In view of this, steps have been taken to increase production. The Union Minister informed that by the end of this year, there is an estimated availability of more than 200 crore vaccine supplements in the country. The government will closely monitor its various phases. Under the nationwide vaccination campaign, the Center is providing free Covid vaccines to the States and Union Territories. Apart from this, the central government is also facilitating the direct purchase of vaccines for the states and union territories. He said that vaccination is the pillar of the comprehensive strategy of the Government of India for the management of epidemics and epidemics, as well as for test, track, treat, and covid-friendly behavior. On May 1, 2021, the third phase of the liberal and rapid strategy of Covid-19 vaccination has been implemented. The Center will provide its share of dosages as before to the State Governments completely free of cost. The government of India has so far provided more than 22.46 crore doses (22 crore 46 lakh 8 thousand 10) of vaccine through both free cost category and direct state purchase category to the states and union territories. Out of these, the total intake of 20 crore 48 lakh 4 thousand 853 vaccine has been consumed including the amount of wasted dose. At present, more than 1.84 crore doses (one crore 84 lakh 92 thousand 677) of Kovid vaccine are available with the States and Union Territories, he added.
Apart from this, the states and union territories have more than 3 lakh ie 3,20,380 vaccine doses in the pipeline, which will be available to them in the next three days, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said.