Efforts are being made to vaccinate the entire adult population of India against Covid-19 by December 31 this year, the center told the Supreme Court on Saturday. The central government also admitted that vaccine procurement policies were changed after states and smaller private hospitals complained of difficulties in obtaining vaccines.
The country would need 186 to 188 million doses of Covid vaccine to vaccinate 93-94 million people ages 18 and older, the center said. It added that 51.6 million of those doses will be available by July 31.
In its affidavit before the SC, the center said it plans to procure 135 crore doses of the various Covid-19 vaccines between August and December of this year. These include 50 million doses of Covishield, 40 million doses of Covaxin, 30 million doses of BioE’s Jab, 10 million doses of the Sputnik-V vaccine, and five million doses of the Zydus Cadila DNA vaccine.
The digital divide does not affect vaccination in rural / remote areas: center
The center also assured the Supreme Court that restricted access to the internet will not affect vaccination numbers in rural or remote areas. At least 74.45 percent of all vaccination centers in the country are in rural areas, the government said.
Even remote areas in Ladakh, Tripura and Lakshwadeep are witnessing high vaccination rates, the center said. It adds that vaccination coverage in tribal areas is better compared to the national average.
The central government also mentioned in its affidavit that 19.12 crore (59 percent) of all Indians who received the vaccination chose to register on site instead of booking appointments on the CoWIN platform.
Total demand from private hospitals
The difficulty in obtaining vaccinations “clearly influenced the pace” of the nationwide vaccination campaign, the center informed the Supreme Court.
“Smaller private hospitals, particularly in remote cities, were also found to have had problems securing and ensuring timely vaccine supplies,” the affidavit read.
The affidavit goes on to say: “On closer inspection, it turned out that large hospitals / hospital chains are responsible for the maximum procurement of vaccines from manufacturers and that other smaller hospitals have lagged behind.”
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States / UTs have been asked to meet an “aggregate demand from private hospitals” to ensure an equitable distribution of vaccinations, the center said.
“Based on this aggregate demand, the Government of India will facilitate the delivery of these vaccines to the private hospitals and their payment would be sent to the manufacturers by the respective private hospitals only through the Government of India’s electronic platform,” the affidavit said.
The center also stated in its affidavit: “Foreign manufacturers selling their vaccines to others, do not share their pricing structure with the Government of India or anyone else in the world who rely on the confidentiality clause in each of their respective contracts. “
The “UNICEF COVID19 Vaccines Market Dashboard” is the only public domain that reflects the price of other vaccines available in other parts of the world, the central government added.
Many Indians are dependent on private medical care, which is why private hospitals have been participating in the vaccination campaign since the beginning, the center said.
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