New Delhi: With three days to go before an estimated 50 crore more Indians become eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, while 30 crore are already in queue, states have now begun to place their first orders for the shots. Some states, though, are yet to make up their minds on which vaccine and how much to procure.
Since the national Covid-19 vaccination programme began in January, this is the first time states are able to directly procure vaccines from manufacturers, or even import India-approved ones from abroad if they so wish, without the government playing the role of allocator. However, states can only order a maximum of 50 per cent of the total output of a vaccine manufacturer as the other half continues to go to the central government.
The Centre is allotting these vaccines to states in proportion of their disease burdens and their “performance” in carrying out vaccinations (which also takes into account wastage). This leaves states to compete with private hospitals for a share.
On Monday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that his government had approved the purchase of 1.34 crore doses of vaccine. He also promised free vaccinations for all adults. The Delhi government also pressed for uniform pricing of vaccines.
Meanwhile, the Haryana government has placed an order for 40 lakh doses of the Astra-Zeneca Covishield vaccine, being manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII), and 26 lakh doses of the indigenous Covaxin vaccine manufactured by Bharat Biotech. Like Delhi, Haryana has also promised free vaccinations to everyone above 18 years of age.
In Punjab, CM Captain Amarinder Singh Sunday directed the health department to order 30 lakh Covishield doses to vaccinate the 18-45 age group, with directions to use the CM Covid Relief Fund.
But states such as Maharashtra, which is among the worst-affected, is yet to make up its minds and Chhattisgarh has revealed little about its plans.
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Chhattisgarh
The Chhattisgarh government has been tight-lipped about how large a vaccine consignment the state has ordered to kick off the third phase of the vaccination drive from 1 May when people aged 18 years and above become eligible for the shot. Government officials have stated that not sharing these details is a “policy matter”.
When contacted, Chhattisgarh’s National Health Mission managing director and department head, Dr Priyanka Shukla, told ThePrint: “It’s a top policy level decision being taken by the chief minister and health minister of the state. It won’t be proper on my part to comment on it. Only chief minister and health minister will be able to tell about it.”
When asked if the state government had placed any order for vaccines, Shukla said, “We have, but I can’t disclose other details.”
State vaccination in-charge, Dr Amar Singh had a similar response. “This is a top policy matter and we are not party to it … We may not be able to say anything on the vaccine requirements of the state at this hour but our preparation to inoculate more then 2 lakh people in a day is in place. Placing vaccine orders is a top policy matter and we are not privy to it.”
He added, “Even private hospitals have been informed that they will have to purchase their share of vaccines directly from manufacturers. Their vaccination staff have been adequately trained by us for dealing with expected heavy inflow of vaccine seekers from 1 May.”
However, sources in the health department told ThePrint that the state has ordered 50 lakh vaccines from both SII and Bharat Biotech.
As far the current vaccine drive for people above the age of 45 years goes, Dr Singh said the state had stocks that would last only two more days.
“So far, around 52 lakh people have been given Covid vaccine shots in the state. This includes both first and second doses. However, our existing stock of vaccines will last only for the next two days, although we hope to get fresh stock by 29 April to continue the drive for above 45 years,” Dr Singh said.
Chhattisgarh has a total of 6.67 lakh cases, of which 1.21 lakh are active and 7,536 have died.
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Maharashtra
In Maharashtra, the government has yet to draw up a concrete plan for vaccinations.
“Things are still under discussion. We are expecting more clarification from the Centre through meetings over video conferencing in the next couple of days and will have more clarity only after that,” Archana Patil, director, Health Services, Maharashtra, said.
Maharashtra has so far vaccinated more than 1.5 crore people, though the vaccination drive has been riddled with hiccups such as a shortage of doses. Given this constant shortage, authorities are worried that they may not be able to start the third phase from 1 May.
Health Minister Rajesh Tope Tuesday said, “The big question in front of the state is how do we start the third phase of vaccinations if we don’t get the stock?”
Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, he said Maharashtra has 5.71 crore people in the 18-44 age bracket and the state will need 12 crore doses to vaccinate them all.
“The health department principal secretary, Dr Pradeep Vyas, has written to Serum Institute as well as Bharat Biotech about Maharashtra’s requirement of doses for the third phase and asked them about how and when they might be able to supply the stock. We are yet to hear back from both companies,” Tope said.
He also added that at the current cost fixed by the vaccine manufacturers, Maharashtra will have to spend Rs 7,500 crore. “Even if we say that we are ready to bear this cost, the availability of vaccines is the biggest issue,” he added.
While registrations for the vaccine drive are set to open Wednesday, big private hospitals across the country are also awaiting clarity on how many vaccines will be available to them.
Maharashtra has so far recorded 43,43,727 Covid positive cases, of which 6,74,770 are active and 65,284 have died.
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Karnataka
State Health Minister Dr K. Sudhakar announced that the government will buy 1 crore doses worth Rs 400 crore for this third phase of vaccination, but added that they were having difficulty sourcing vaccines. The state is waiting for a response from the Centre on the status of vaccines. As of now, it has 7 lakh vaccines remaining and another 10 million have been ordered, Sudhakar said.
According to Rajendra Cholan, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) special commissioner, around 40,000 vaccinations on average are being administered daily in Bengaluru. There currently is a stock of 48,000 doses, but the demand for vaccines from private hospitals has increased multifold, he told ThePrint.
The BBMP is seeking 1 lakh doses as it is unable to manage the demand.
The state has so far recorded 13,68,945 cases in total, of which 2,81,061 are active and 14,627 have died.
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Andhra Pradesh
The Principal Secretary to Government, Muddada Ravichandra, had Saturday written to SII’s Adar Poonawalla, Bharat Biotech’s Dr Krishna Ella and also Dr Deepak Sapra of Reddy’s labs, saying there is a requirement of 4.08 crore doses to vaccinate 2.04 crore population that falls in the 18-45 years age group.
This came after CM Jagan Mohan Reddy held telephonic conversations with both Dr Ella and Poonawalla, requesting vaccines for the state, according to sources from the Chief Minister’s Office.
Andhra Pradesh is currently vaccinating more than 6 lakh per day, according to the state government.
As of Monday, the state has recorded 10.4 lakh cases, of which 95,131 are active and 7,736 are deaths.
Telangana
Following instructions from CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar met Dr Ella Tuesday seeking enough doses to carry on with state’s plan to vaccinate all 4 crore population in the 18-45 age group for free. According to the government, Ella responded positively to the request.
As of Saturday, Telangana had vaccinated 35 lakh people by the government’s count.
The state has 69,221 active cases and 2,094 deaths in total of the 4.11 lakh cases recorded up till Monday.
Rajasthan
The Rajasthan government has sent a formal request for 3.75 crore doses. “We sent a request on Sunday to the Serum Institute of India but we are yet to receive a response from them. Once we do, only then we’ll know in how much deep water we are,” state immunisation officer, Raghuraj Singh told ThePrint.
Rajasthan currently has 1,46,640 active cases. It has recorded a total of 5,30,875 cases so far, of which 3,685 have died.
With inputs from Manasi Phadke, Prithviraj Singh, Rohini Swamy, Rishika Sadam, Aneesha Bedi, Chitleen Sethi and Sravasti Dasgupta
(Edited by Manasa Mohan)
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Our Politicians/CMs are behaving like cheap bargainers. They first demand vaccines for all, once promised that it will be made available then they move to second trick that they will provide it for free to all, next they resort to bargain for the cheapest price. Why do we have to provide every one for free, it is okay for BPL citizens but not for those who can afford it. Media should go easy on releasing live photos of situation in hospitals. We are facing unpredictable pandemic hence can not expect our healthcare system to cope up with sudden load. We must not start holding hospitals, doctors and paramedics to ransom. Let us not compare ourselves with facilities seen on tv in US, ours is a poor country with highest population in the world. We demand prompt healthcare and free of cost.