Coronavirus Vaccine
Centre must give vaccines to states for free: West Bengal govt tells SC
New Delhi/IBNS: The West Bengal government has told the Supreme Court that there should be uniform vaccination policy and the differential policy adopted in the later phase of the vaccination should be scrapped.
The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government also said the Centre must procure the vaccines and make them available to the states for free.
"States cannot made to negotiate and bargain individually on vaccine prices. States will be compelled to allocate funds for vaccines, which will have a crippling effect on an already stretched health infrastructure," the state said in an affidavit ahead of the hearing on the vaccine policy next Monday, reported NDTV.
Earlier this week, the top court has noted that compelling state government to negotiate with pharma companies on vaccine prices to promote competition and encourage new entrants can be detrimental to the people who will be vaccinated by the state governments.
"Prima facie, the rational method of proceeding in a manner consistent with the right to life (which includes the right to health) under Article 21 would be for the central government to procure all vaccines and to negotiate the price with vaccine manufacturers," the court had said, the report added.
Many states have raised objections against differential pricing for the vaccination drive that started from May 1 covering people from 18-44.
Until last month the Centre was buying Covaxin from Bharat Biotech and Covishield from Serum Institute of India and supplying them to states.
From May 1 the manufacturers will supply the 50 per cent doses to states and private hospitals and vaccination centres to inoculate people aged 18-44 and the remaining 50 per cent will be purchased by the Centre and given to states to vaccinate all above 45 and above as well as health workers and frontline workers.
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