CPM hashtag seeks PSU’s role to get vax at affordable rate for all

“Given that the vaccine manufacturing task was given only to private sector companies, those companies have dared to do business even as people are dying. The Narendra Modi government has paved the way for a multi-lakh crore super profiteering of corporates by helping this bad trend,” CPM state secretary K Balakrishnan tweeted.

Pointing out that public sector units supplied 92 per cent of vaccines for the government programme in 2006-07, he said that now the government is procuring 80 per cent of vaccines from the private sector paying 250 per cent more. “The government should invest on the public sector and stop the private loot,” he wrote.

In phase-3 of the drive, all the people above 18 would be eligible for vaccination. But, the Centre would procure 50 per cent of Covishield and Covaxin at a cost of Rs 150 per dose from the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech respectively. The SII has announced it would make available Covishield at a cost of Rs 400 per dose to the state and Rs 600 per dose for the private hospitals while the Bharat Biotech fixed a price of Rs 600 a dose for the state government and Rs 1,200 a dose for a private hospital.

CPM has been raising the issue of the utilisation of the three vaccine PSUs – the Central Research Institute, Kasauli, the Pasteur Institute of India, Coonoor and the BCG Vaccine Lab, Chennai and Integrated Vaccine Complex at Chengalpattu which remains idle for over eight years for the production of COVID-19 vaccine.

E Shankar, Chengalpattu district secretary of CPM said when the Centre was able to pay Rs 4,500 crore to the private manufacturer for COVID-19 vaccine, why is it refusing to spend Rs 300 crore required to revive the Integrated Vaccine Complex?

“The government has the responsibility to vaccinate all people free of cost. For which it should make use of the vaccine PSUs manufacturing facilities,” tweeted Bharati Rajendran.