The Centre has reduced India to a “vaccine beggar from vaccine leader”, the Opposition alleged on Wednesday. Allowing Serum Institute of India (SII) to price its Covid-19 vaccine at ₹400 a dose for States has particularly irked the Opposition.
Congress leaders P Chidambaram said such a decision was anticipated and asked the Centre who will pay for the vaccine in government-run hospitals. “Who will pay the ₹400 for one dose in government hospitals? The State government or the beneficiary? How many persons between 18 and 44 years can afford to pay ₹400 per dose? How many States would be willing to pay the price of the vaccine and subsidise the people,” he asked in Twitter.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said such a pricing is unacceptable. “Centre must buy vaccines and distribute in a transparent equitable manner free to States. The Prime Minister must spend the crores in the PMCares Fund for this. For 70 years India has always had a free universal vaccination programme,” he said.
‘States will be hit’
Former Minister and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said such a move is not cooperative federalism. “This will bleed dry the already reeling State finances. Atrocious! We demand One Nation, One Price for Centre and State governments,” he said.
AICC general secretary Ajay Maken said the foundation built by previous Congress governments made India the global leader in vaccine production today. “Would the Prime Minister care to answer that India being the world’s biggest vaccination producer, why is it that only 1.3 per cent of Indians have so far been fully vaccinated? Why is it that despite being one of the largest manufacturers, we are facing acute shortage of life saving medicines,” he asked.
Oxygen capacity
Citing the reports of scarcity of medical oxygen, he asked the Centre why is it that despite having a surplus capacity , the country is unable to supply medical oxygen to the hospitals. He said the Centre wasted 15 months and failed to set up adequate health infrastructure. “Why did we fail to anticipate the second wave, despite it being a global phenomena,” he asked.