The Rajasthan government is planning to approach the Supreme Court to ask for a new policy that ensures uniform distribution and pricing of Covid-19 vaccines, said a senior official familiar with the development. It will be the second state to do so after West Bengal, which had on May 7 moved the apex court for the exact same reason and demanded that the states be given the vaccines free of cost.
Rajasthan’s vaccination programme has been slowed down by a shortage of jabs. So far, only 1.26 crore of its total population of 8 crore has been administered the first dose, and just 31.2 lakh have received the second. Of those vaccinated fully, 16.34 lakh are over the age of 60 and 7.48 lakh are in the 45-59 age-group.
The state government is also spending ₹3,000 crore to inoculate people in the age group of 18-44 years. For this, it has ordered 3.75 crore vaccine shots from the Serum Institute of India (SII), which has been struggling to meet the huge demands raised by all states. So far, over 12.59 lakh people in this age-group have been vaccinated.
The state has also floated a global tender to procure 1 crore doses but says that this should have been done by the Centre. “The state can bear the expenditure, but the tender should be floated by the government of India. The Centre can negotiate for a uniform rate, and check the credentials and credibility of the vendors,” said the aforementioned official on the condition of anonymity, adding that so far six to eight vendors have participated in the tender and some of them have been asked to provide more additional documents.
The differential pricing, the official said, will result in competition among states, as the vendors participating in the global tender are quoting more than twice the price of vaccine — ₹300 per dose plus GST.
{{/usCountry}}The differential pricing, the official said, will result in competition among states, as the vendors participating in the global tender are quoting more than twice the price of vaccine — ₹300 per dose plus GST.
{{/usCountry}}Vaccine manufacturers SII and Bharat Biotech have been charging ₹150 per dose from the Centre, and ₹300-400 per dose from the states. The price should be capped at a uniform rate of ₹150, the official said.
Centre’s announcement of differential pricing for vaccines was opposed by many states, and had led the Supreme Court to observe, in a suo motu case, that the policy was violative of a citizen’s constitutional rights and the Centre should revisit it. The Centre had asked the court not to interfere with an executive decision.