Maharashtra expects hiccups in its 18+ vaccination drive

Three days after the Centre announced the decision to start vaccination for all adults in the country from May 1, the state government said it will start negotiations with foreign vaccine manufacturers as the two Indian companies have either not released prices or have their production booked by the Centre for a month.

With eight days to go for universal Covid-19 vaccination to start in the state, Maharashtra could witness hiccups in the inoculation drive from May 1 due to inadequate supply of vaccine shots.

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Three days after the Centre announced the decision to start vaccination for all adults in the country from May 1, the state government said it will start negotiations with foreign vaccine manufacturers as the two Indian companies have either not released prices or have their production booked by the Centre for a month.

Meanwhile, the state government is also deliberating on the proposal to make the vaccine doses available for free for the poor in the 18 to 44 age group.

The Centre on Monday announced vaccination for all adults in the country from May 1, but the states and Union territories have to procure the doses from manufacturers. The manufacturers would supply 50% of the ordered doses to the Government of India and 50% to the state governments and the open market.

Maharashtra chief secretary Sitaram Kunte said a plan is being chalked out to procure vaccines. “A plan is being worked out… since foreign import is now allowed and there is Bharat Biotech, we will get in touch with them. The vaccination drive for [age] 18 to 44 will start on May 1, but the stock is expected to be limited. In that age group, there are roughly 55 or 57.5 million people. So, we will require about 120 million doses, including the wastage, over a span of four to five months, depending on how soon we get the stock,” said Kunte.

State health minister Rajesh Tope said that chief minister Uddhav Thackeray held an online meeting with Serum Institute of India’s Adar Poonawalla on Wednesday, where he was told that the company’s production has been booked till May 24. In light of that, the state will start negotiations with manufacturers of imported vaccines as it will not be able to purchase stock from Serum Institute of India, which makes Covidshield, till third week of May, and Bharat Biotech, which makes Covaxin, as it has not released its prices.

“Adar Poonawalla [during a meeting] told the chief minister that their entire production has been booked by the Centre till May 24. It is April 22 today, so, it is clear that for an entire month we will not be able to purchase [vaccine] for the 18-45 age group. Senior officials are in touch with Bharat Biotech, but so far, they have not released the price for state governments. If that happens in a day or two, we will be able to place order with them,” Tope said.

However, the Centre refuted the claim and said that Serum Institute has not contracted all its production of vaccines to the Centre till May 25. A statement from the PIB said, “State governments are free to procure Covid-19 vaccine doses from the vaccine manufacturers as per the Liberalised Pricing and accelerated National Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy.” It further added, “A key feature of the Liberalised Pricing and Accelerated National Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy is that the “Vaccine manufacturers would supply 50% of their monthly Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) released doses to Govt. of India and would be free to supply remaining 50% doses to state governments and in the other than Govt. of India channel”. The state governments are free to purchase doses from the vaccine manufacturers. Therefore, it is very clear that every month out of the total CDL cleared doses available with any vaccine manufacturer, 50% doses would be available for other than Government of India channels.”

Earlier in the week, deputy chief minister and finance minister Ajit Pawar had said that the state would use certain development funds, but not hamper the procuring of imported vaccines, if need be. Tope added that the state would negotiate with the companies including Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Sputnik V to buy the “extremely expensive” imported vaccines.

“Sputnik V, Moderna, American and the Chinese vaccines are extremely expensive compared to our vaccines. These vaccines are about seven to 10 times costlier than then Indian ones. But we can carry out a negotiation at the highest level with them. Chief minister and deputy chief minister have already made it clear that our government will consider [purchasing] it, if they reduce the prices since we are going to purchase in a huge volume,” he added. Kunte added that the state will also hold talks with Bharat Biotech soon. “There will be a wide range of choice,” he said.

The health minister also said that the state government would consider providing free vaccines to “poor and extremely poor” section of the society in the age group of 18 to 44 years. He said such a proposal will be mooted by the health department and the State Cabinet will take a call on it soon. He however ruled out free vaccines for others who can afford the jab.

“We will be taking up the matter of providing vaccines for free in the upcoming cabinet meeting. The government will definitely think of the poor and extremely poor sections of society. But who can afford the vaccines in the 18 to 44 age bracket must pay for the vaccine shot. The health department will put up a proposal to give vaccines for free to the poor, but the final decision will be taken by the Cabinet,” he said. Currently, the vaccination is free for all in those who are 45 and above. For those who want to pay for the vaccine, have an option to get vaccinated from selected private hospitals.