Cong Leader Slams Govt Over Pricing Of Covishield Vaccine

FILE PHOTO: An employee removes vials of COVISHIELD vaccine from inside a lab at the Serum Institute of India, in Pune

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday criticised the Union government over differential pricing of the Covishield vaccine, saying the Centre getting it at ₹150 per dose and states at ₹400 is no cooperative federalism.

He demanded the Centre and state governments pay the same price for the COVID-19 vaccine.

He said overcharging state governments for the anti-coronavirus shots will bleed dry their already stressed finances.

“The Central government will continue to pay ₹150 per dose for Covishield. State governments will now be charged ₹400 a dose. This is not cooperative federalism. This will bleed dry the already reeling state finances. Atrocious,” he said on Twitter.

“We demand One Nation, One Price for Centre and State governments,” he said.

Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s largest vaccine-maker, on Wednesday announced a price of ₹600 per dose for COVID vaccine supplies to private hospitals and ₹400 per dose to state governments.

In a statement posted on its Twitter handle, SII said it will address the limited capacity by scaling up the vaccine production over the next two months.

Meanwhile, Delhi logged 24,638 fresh COVID-19 cases and 249 deaths due to the viral disease on Wednesday as the positivity rate stood at 31.28 per cent, meaning almost every third sample turned out to be positive, amid a growing clamour for oxygen and hospital beds in the city.

Only 18 ICU beds for COVID patients were available in hospitals across Delhi at 11 pm, according to government data.

On Tuesday, the city had registered a record 28,395 cases and 277 fatalities, the highest since the outbreak of the pandemic. The positivity rate was 32.82 per cent, also the highest so far.

The city has reported over 1,350 deaths due to the deadly virus in the last seven days.