{"id":108651,"date":"2021-05-26T10:36:48","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T05:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=108651"},"modified":"2021-05-26T10:36:48","modified_gmt":"2021-05-26T05:06:48","slug":"issues-in-present-policy-of-vaccine-procurement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/issues-in-present-policy-of-vaccine-procurement\/","title":{"rendered":"Issues in Present Policy of Vaccine Procurement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Synopsis<\/strong>: Analysis on issues associated with the Liberalised and Accelerated Phase 3 Strategy of<a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/universal-vaccination-in-india-challenges-and-way-forward-explained-pointwise\/\"> COVID-19 Vaccination<\/a><\/p>\n<h5><strong>Background<\/strong><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>Many State governments have resorted to floating global tenders for COVID-19 vaccines due to Covid vaccine shortage in India.<\/li>\n<li>The Liberalised and Accelerated Phase 3 Strategy of COVID-19 Vaccination allows states to procure COVID-19 vaccines independently of the global market for people above the age of 18 years.<\/li>\n<li>However, the Liberalised and Accelerated Phase 3 Strategy of COVID-19 Vaccination has many disadvantages.<\/li>\n<li>A single global tender for vaccine procurement through the center will be more effective in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><strong>What are the issues in the Liberalised and Accelerated Phase 3 Strategy of COVID-19 Vaccination?<\/strong><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>First, <\/strong>the Liberalised and <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/need-to-accelerate-vaccination-drive\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Accelerated Phase 3 Strategy of COVID-19 Vaccination<\/a> allows all persons, above 18 years of age to get COVID-19 vaccine doses.\n<ul>\n<li>However, expanding eligibility in the absence of sufficient vaccine supplies will only spread vaccines thinly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Second, <\/strong>the burden to procure vaccines for the population of the 18-44 years age group has been shifted to the States. This has many disadvantages,\n<ul>\n<li><strong>One, <\/strong>determination of prices by an oligopolistic market favours unhealthy competition among States<strong>.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Two, <\/strong>States will have to procure doses at higher rates than a single national purchaser. As a result of the new strategy, each vaccine dose will be costlier in India than in any other part of the world.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>All these issues will result in unequal distribution of vaccines among states (<strong>Vaccine inequity<\/strong>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><strong>What needs to be done?<\/strong><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>One<\/strong>, government needs to revisit the vaccine policy and use the limited vaccine supply for the adult high-risk and vulnerable group of population.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Two,<\/strong> vaccination for the 18-44 years age group can be reconsidered when vaccine supply is likely to stabilise.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Three<\/strong>, Central government should coordinate with the States and make efforts to float a single global tender for vaccine procurement.\n<ul>\n<li>The fact that the federal government has provided vaccines free to all, even in the United States, should be an eye-opener for India.<\/li>\n<li>Further, procurement of vaccines by the center and administration of vaccines by the states will ensure effective vaccine delivery. For instance, Polio.<\/li>\n<li>This mechanism of division of labour among centre-state should not be disturbed. The current vaccine strategy burdens States with additional procurement responsibilities that need to be done away with.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Article 21<\/strong> of the Constitution guarantees the right to health. Right to health encompasses accessible, available, and affordable health care. Hence, it is the duty of the central government to ensure that COVID-19 vaccines are accessible, available, and affordable.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/Home\/ShareArticle?OrgId=GGQ8K1F4K.1&amp;imageview=0\">The Hindu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Synopsis: Analysis on issues associated with the Liberalised and Accelerated Phase 3 Strategy of COVID-19 Vaccination Background Many State governments have resorted to floating global tenders for COVID-19 vaccines due to Covid vaccine shortage in India. The Liberalised and Accelerated Phase 3 Strategy of COVID-19 Vaccination allows states to procure COVID-19 vaccines independently of the&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/issues-in-present-policy-of-vaccine-procurement\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Issues in Present Policy of Vaccine Procurement<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,1351,1310,9],"tags":[1289,1472],"class_list":["post-108651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-daily-news","category-daily-news-updates","category-public","tag-soc_0","tag-vaccine_related_issues","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":1700777617,"cached_date":1704881441},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108651\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}