The government had decided to open vaccinations for citizens above the age of 18 years, and also allowed manufacturers to release around 50% of doses to the open market. This would enable vaccine manufacturers to charge a higher price INR 150 per dose that they would be getting under the Government of India’s immunization programme, which is seen as a point of debate and contention among vaccine manufacturers globally.

This decision follows reports of shortage of vaccines for vulnerable and priority groups in locations like Delhi and states like Maharashtra, at a time when there is a push for faster vaccinations amid a rapid surge in daily cases. Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech are unable to cope with the sudden rise in demand for “Covishield” and “Covaxin”. Consequently, they have been seeking additional grants to scale up production. The Union Budget for this year has allocated INR 73,931.77 crore to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, most of which is scheduled to go towards the Covid-19 vaccination programme.

The change in rules would effectively enable the government to make payments of Rs 1,500 crore to Bharat Biotech and Rs. 3,000 crore Serum Institute of India (SII) in advance for procuring vaccines. With market access to revenue, vaccine turnout is expected to speed up.