Augmenting vaccine production, adding new ones only ways to surpass shortage

One wonders why other vaccines are not being allowed in India, or why other manufacturers are not allowed to produce the vaccines if one or two companies cannot produce them in sufficient quantity

Augmenting vaccine production, adding new ones only ways to surpass shortage
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Gyan Pathak

One cannot reconcile with two opposite reports – one coming from various states about closures of and rationing in many vaccination centres due to insufficient supply of vaccines, and the other from the Centre as it claims no shortage of jabs.

In between the two contradicting reports, one needs to know what exactly is happening in the country, because the vaccine is the only hope in combating the Covid wave which is at its peak now.

Such statements are being made to veil the real problem arising out of lack of production. “Prioritization”, that Modi government is speaking of, is but an ad-hoc arrangement when there is a limited supply of something. The Centre is clearly not doing its best for ensuring sufficient supply of vaccines.

Since the number of doses required to vaccinate all the people of India were not available, the government decided an ‘eligibility’ criterion while claiming at the same time that its plan of vaccination was at par or better than many developed countries of the world. It is factually wrong.

For example, by the beginning of April, United Kingdom had already administered at least one dose to nearly 50 per cent of its population, while India could vaccinate only three per cent of its people.

It may be mentioned that the vaccine from SII does not carry a tag such as ‘trial mode’ as the Covaxin does. It is therefore obvious that SII’s vaccine is most sought after in India and elsewhere in the world. Dr V.K. Paul of NITI Aayog has said the SII manufactures about 60 million doses per month at the end of March. Bharat Biotech’s production capacity is only 150 million a year. The government has asked both the companies to enhance production. However, every company has its own physical and financial limitations, and they can’t go beyond their capacity.

SII CEO Adar Poonawalla has recently said in an interview that their company can double the production if they are financially supported by the government. Bharat Biotech too is not in a position to enhance its capacity on its own. Both the companies need more support from the government and other stakeholders.


Meanwhile, the spread of the second wave of Covid and mortality is worst in Maharashtra, and therefore the state has demanded relaxation in eligibility criterion and an increased supply of vaccines. The Centre has said that it cannot meet this demand because it needs to “prioritise” the doses for other states as well. The data shows that Gujarat, PM’s home state and also ruled by his party BJP, got proportionately very high quantity of vaccines. Such type of prioritisation is inexplicable.

As for the availability of vaccines, SII would be in a position to supply 470 million and Bharat Biotech 120-130 million doses by August, according to Dr V.K. Paul. It is a meagre supply in proportion to India’s 1.3 billion population.

At the same time, India is compelled to export vaccines produced by the SII due to various reasons, including the agreement between the Oxford and the SII. The vaccines produced at SII are not only for India but for several countries which also include 92 poorest countries of the world. The term is binding on SII according to the agreement under the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI). If we go by population, India’s share would have been only 35 per cent of the total production. At the present level of production, this is very small quantity. India cannot treat the vaccine produced here as sovereign property of India.

Several countries, including UK, Canada and Brazil have alleged that India is hindering the exports of vaccines and keeping more dozes to itself than its legitimate share. It is a part of international politics on vaccines.

India needs the vaccines urgently and also many other countries for which WHO needs supplies. The best solution in this situation would to invest more in its production, and the modality should be decided as soon as possible.

Why cannot we considerably increase the production of the vaccine which is required everywhere in the world including India? It may again be politics and the politics of the market forces, who are not really interested in ‘sufficient supply’, but in ‘limited supply’.

It has also been reported that there are many other vaccine candidates in the world. One wonders why the other vaccines are not being allowed in the vaccine arsenal of India, or why other manufacturers are not allowed to produce the vaccines if one or two companies cannot produce them is sufficient quantity?

The government needs to rethink its present strategy and facilitate production, procurement and supply of the vaccines. One wonders if keeping ‘limited supply’ is part of profiteering. Open the door for other vaccines and manufacturers for expansion of capacities to mitigate the present crisis.

(IPA Service)

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