India exported COVID-19 vaccines to 47 countries at cheaper rates, reveals RTI

In a startling revelation under RTI it has emerged that the country has exported the Covid19 vaccines to at least 47 countries globally at rates cheaper than India even as the domestic patients run helterskelter for the lifesaver jabReplying to an RTI query by a Nagpurbased activistbased lawyer Ministry of External Affairs MEAs Under Secretary Arun Kumar has stated that vaccines were supplied as grant and contractual supplies under the Covax facilityFor grant supplies vaccines were procured at a rate of Rs 200dose plus GST from Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd SIIPune and at a rate of Rs 295dose from Bharat Biotech International Ltd BBIL in accordance with the authorization given by the Ministry of Health amp Family Welfare MHFW the MEAs RTI reply statedIn addition the MEA said that the prices of other supplies undertaken by the manufacturers in accordance with their commercial agreements are not available with the governmentThe development comes on a day when the government appealed to the two main vaccine manufacturers SII private and BBIL governmentowned to slash their prices for the megaphase of inoculations starting May 1Till today a total of 1453 crore people have got their first or second jabs as per the official dataAs per the data supplied till April 10 the Centre has already exported a total of 637 crore doses to 89 countries This constitutes 103 crore doses at Rs 200GST rates and the rest 344 crore doses at commercial rates For the same doses now the Centre has allowed the same companies to levy double the rates in the Indian markets Adv Ajmera told IANSAccording to the current data April 27 the number of beneficiary countries has gone up to 95 and the total doses supplied are 663crore including 107 crore as grant Rs 200doseGST and the rest 357 crore doses as per commercial agreements he pointed outAmong the beneficiaries Bangladesh which Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited last month has got the lions share of 103 crore doses including 33lakh doses as grant and the rest commerciallyThe other big ones are Myanmar 17lakh doses Nepal 11lakh and on the lower rung is Seychelles 05lakh and Dominica 07lakh and a grant of 2lakh doses to UN PeacekeepersThe question that arises is when India with such a huge population is dying for the doses where is the need for us to display such generosity to farflung countries with low rates of infections and fatalities many not heard of in India or visible on maps some never visited by Indian leaders Adv Ajmera askedHe said the surprise is grant to prosperous countries like Bahrain and Oman Nigeria Kenya and the tearing hurry in which at least 12 nations got their doses even before the drive had fully got underway in IndiaAgainst this the two companies have announced their latest prices for the vaccines supplies for the domestic marketThe SII is supplying its Covishield vaccine to state governments at Rs 400dose and to private hospitals for Rs 600dose and the BBIL is giving it at Rs 600dose to state governments and Rs 1200dose to private hospitalsApparently justifying their rates the SII said that global vaccines in the private markets are available at much higher rates Rs 1500dose American jabs and Rs 750dose Russian and Chinese jabs while BBIL said the company is exporting its products at between 1520dose roughly averaging to Rs 1200doseAdv Ajmera said that ideally India should have ensured sufficient doses for her own citizens create a surplus before doling out the doses or permitting commercial exploitation by Indian companies at the cost of the local populationThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever