The Supreme Court ordered the government to submit a report comparing domestic and international prices for Covid vaccines currently available in India on Wednesday evening. It also ordered the centre to submit a number of documents, including a detailed “vaccine purchase history.”
Justices DY Chandrachud, LN Rao, and S Ravindra Bhat questioned the centre on the “digital divide,” referring to concerns that requiring people to register on CoWIN would stymie vaccination efforts in rural areas where internet access is spotty.
“Place on record a roadmap of projected vaccine availability until December 31, 2021,” the centre has been asked. The case will be heard again in court on June 30.
Only two of the three coronavirus vaccines currently in use in India are also available in other countries: the AstraZeneca-Oxford University shot (marketed in India as Covishield) and Russia’s Sputnik V, which was approved in early April and is set to go on the market in the second week of this month.
Covishield is sold at a cost of $300 per dose to states and $600 per dose to private hospitals. When it goes on sale at Apollo Hospitals across the country next week, Sputnik V will cost $1195 per dose.
The centre can also purchase Covishield, but at a reduced price of $150 per dose.
Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, the third vaccine in use in India, is not available on the international market.
The disparity in prices, combined with the requirement that states purchase up to 50% of their required doses directly from manufacturers rather than receiving them for free from the centre – as was the case when people over 45 were vaccinated – sparked a massive uproar.
In an effort to expand the vaccine net and address some of these issues, the centre announced earlier on Wednesday that it would waive bridging trial requirements for some foreign vaccines. Indemnity requests for these vaccines – the Pfizer and Moderna shots – are also being considered, according to sources.
As early as mid-July, the government expects to have one crore doses available per day.
