Covid-19: Supreme Court asks Centre to explain rationale of vaccine pricing

The Supreme Court said on Friday raised the issue of differential pricing of Covid-19 vaccines and asked the Centre not to leave it to the manufacturers to decide on the cost

The SC asked Centre to explain why the Covid-19 vaccine has been priced differently for the states, the private sector and the Centre.

It said the Centre should adopt the national immunization model as poor people will not be able to pay for vaccines.

“What happens to the marginalised and SC/ST population? Should they be left to the mercy of private hospitals,” it asked.

The court also said the government must consider National Immunisation Programme for various vaccines and must think of providing free of cost vaccination to all citizens.

The top court also said that private vaccine manufacturers cannot be allowed to decide which State should get how much.

“How the supplies of vaccines will be allocated between various states if each state is to negotiate with vaccine producers,” it asked

Further SC questioned as to how will the central and state government enable vaccine registration for illiterates or those who don’t have access to the internet

It allowed the Centre to give a PowerPoint presentation on COVID-19 preparation.