Central Government Clueless On Vaccine Production In India?
Pune, 25 August 2021: An RTI activist from Pune filed an RTI to understand the number of vaccines produced by the vaccine manufacturing companies, namely Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute. The RTI was filed with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on 2nd June 2021. Ministry of Health forwarded the RTI to Central Drugs and Standards organization (CDSO) on the same day, asking them to respond as they believed the competent authority was CDSO. The original questions asked by the applicant was:
| I am concerned about vaccination. I need the following information from your office. Do you have the information about vaccines produced by the two Indian vaccine manufacturers listed below from 1st Jan 2021 to 31-May 2021? If you do not have till 31-May-2021, you can provide till whatever date you have the latest information.
1. Bharat Biotech (COVAXIN) and 2. Serum Institute of India (COVISHIELD)Your information will of immense help. |
Original RTI application
The applicant did not receive a response for the entire month. The applicant filed an appeal. Post appeal, a response was received on 19th July 2021 indicating that CDSO does not monitor the vaccines in the country. See Fig 2 to see the response from CDSO post appeal.
Now it is important to understand that Mr. Modi announced that 75% of vaccines for centralized vaccine drive and 25% for the private sector. If this so, there has to be some mechanism to track the number of vaccines produced. Was Mr. Modi misleading the nation?
This particular situation is serious as well. After announcing the vaccine prices, which are very high compared to centralized procurement of INR 150/- per dosage, having no control over the vaccine production only allows the producers to divert most of it to the private sector. Punekarnews.in has been highlighting the vaccine shortage all across the country for quite some time. Could this be the reason why the vaccine all through has been readily available in private? It is a matter of further investigation.
RTI response from CDSO
Letter from CDSO
When Punekarnews.in contacted the RTI activist, he raised even bigger concerns. As per the activist, he wanted to confirm his findings that till May 2021, there are 40% unaccounted vaccines as per preliminary estimates, and vaccines scarcity was visible. To further confirm that his calculation is correct, he tried to ensure the production data, which the Government does not have to his utter surprise. That raises more questions than answers.
The activist said, “It is unbelievable and bizarre that such critical information is not available when vaccine shortage is all across the country. I am not sure it by chance or by design to facilitate something else. Meanwhile, it further confirms my worst fears around the vaccine shortage which I wanted to confirm. It is a huge number.”
