India may have opened up Covid-19 vaccination registration for the 18 years and above population, but none of the vaccination sites across the country offer a vaccination slot yet for May 1 for this category, which is largely being attributed to inadequate vaccine supplies. Private players may suffer worse because they will get preference after the centre and state, and even though the date is May 1 they cannot open without vaccines, says Shobana Kamineni, executive vice-chairperson, Apollo Hospitals, in an interview to HT.
What is Apollo group’s Covid-19 vaccine procurement plan?
We haven’t really been given a free hand; the government is also allowing the private to procure. Free hand would mean you can just about to anything. First priority is the centre, then it is the states and then, of course, it’s the private. So, one more player has not entered to increase the vaccination drive. However, I don’t think having another player will solve the issue of shortage. It probably just puts pressure.
Have you spoken to vaccine manufacturers yet for procuring Covid-19 vaccines since vaccination for all adults is supposed to open on May 1?
All the vaccine manufacturers we have spoken to have said that we have commitments to fulfill first; once those are done. They have very clearly said that we are not the priority. We can only open it when we have vaccines. Even now we have done about 4,50,000 vaccinations till now, and probably among the private it is the largest but, in terms of capacity, we could have done 2 million in a fortnight. So, whatever we did so far, we could have actually finished it earlier, instead of these 2-3 months that we have been vaccinating if we had got enough supply of vaccines. We can actually do five times the capability. The demand is there but it is all critical about the access.
How long before you see the supplies improving?
{{/usCountry}}How long before you see the supplies improving?
{{/usCountry}}Four months ago people were talking about vaccines expiring, and now you see complete shortage. But full effect of this (supplies opening up and ramping up production attempts) will only start happening I think in June. Because of the spike in cases we also have shortage of nurses to vaccinate, so we are looking at other vaccinators to come in. As of today we are turning most of our icus into Covid beds across the country. You can’t get a bed in most hospitals, even if you want in most hospitals. That’s the first fight. My real take is, this will mature from June onwards. Or you at least see things slightly get under control; like Delhi won’t be so bad in June. We really have to think through as a time frame; from June till (and I really hope people still have that intent and get vaccinated in huge numbers) October when we would have done significant number of vaccinations.
How many doses are you looking at procuring initially, assuming May 1 is your deadline?
We will open up orders for as much as we can get every month. Like I told you, our capability is doing 2 million in a fortnight. Since we can do that many we will buy enough to be able to do that much. The thing is there has to be supply enough, I would think that real supply story will only start from June, and from there it will get fast and more furious. Also, by that some our resources can be shifted from these intense Covid-19 duties to vaccinating, so we will have more vaccinators even though now we are trying to marshal about 6,000 vaccinators outside this current but it is hard.
Do you see vaccinations starting from May 1 for 18-44 years category?
There is too much out there; I don’t think this will start with a big bang at all. Of course, we will have some (doses) but I think if we get a million vaccine doses in May it will be a big deal. But in June I would probably get 10 million, and that is the difference. At least that is the expectation.
What about the cost of vaccination?
Everything depends on what the government gives us, and how they will differentiate it. They might say anybody going to Apollo, irrespective of the age group, pay the price. So, who will bear the cost if you are buying the vaccine at ₹600, and I cannot believe Bharat Biotech is selling at ₹1200. I am just not able to understand the pricing. Whatever the pricing is we will keep our administrative cost constant because one thing is there that as much as doing the vaccine, the administration under proper conditions is equally important. We cannot cut corners, so we have to charge something for it. But there are companies that are willing to vaccinate their employees are willing to vaccinate other for free because they say the cost of us not being in business is so much more.. I think, everyone in India is, except for the vaccine manufacturers and their pricing, no one wants to make money of this. Apollo will do a lot of vaccines; not just in these major metros but tier 2, tier 3 cities. If you look at our tie-ups, then it is 10 million vaccines that is already required, but everything pivots around the supply.