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India Covid: What are the claims around the 'free vaccine' policy? | |
(14 days later) | |
Citizens of the city of Kolkata being vaccinated | Citizens of the city of Kolkata being vaccinated |
India has announced a record eight million jabs on the first day of a new vaccination push, the highest number it's done so far. | |
Under a newly-introduced policy, the federal government now buys Covid-19 jabs directly from manufacturers and supplies them to the state authorities. | |
India is one of the largest vaccine makers in the world. | |
But its own vaccination drive has been moving at a slow pace with just over 5% of the population fully vaccinated. | |
Is this a world record for one day? | |
On the first day of the new policy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the pace of India's vaccine programme. | |
Mr Modi had announced earlier this month that everyone would get "free vaccines" from 21 June. | |
Today’s record-breaking vaccination numbers are gladdening. The vaccine remains our strongest weapon to fight COVID-19. Congratulations to those who got vaccinated and kudos to all the front-line warriors working hard to ensure so many citizens got the vaccine. Well done India! | |
Health Minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan, tweeted that the eight million jabs was the highest number of doses administered in a single day globally. | |
But that's not correct as China holds the record for administering the highest number of doses in a single day, going by figures compiled by Our World in Data. | |
It gave out 20.8 million doses on 21 June, and has also been ramping up its vaccination programme. | |
However, it was a single day record for India, leading some Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politicians to praise the move by the federal government to take over the vaccination drive. | |
Under the leadership of PM @NarendraModi ji, India clocked its highest ever vaccination numbers by administering over 85 lakh vaccine doses in a single day. This has been driven by the efficient model of centralised vaccination along with ground level efforts by state Govts. pic.twitter.com/xNOWz8V1ha | |
The total number of vaccines administered rose by over 90% on 21 June, compared with the previous day. | |
But it is worth noting that vaccine doses administered in some states had dropped noticeably in the days leading up to 21 June. | |
In Madhya Pradesh, the numbers dropped significantly by 82% from 13-16 June and 17-20 June. | |
In Haryana, vaccine administration dropped by 22% between 15-17 June and 18-20 June before it achieved the highest single-day record. | |
Numbers dropped on the previous day in other states as well - something that is usually seen on Sundays. | |
And It was significantly lower than usual in Gujarat and Assam states. | |
India has administered over 276 million vaccine doses since January, that's less than 30% of the eligible adult population. | |
India's adult population is estimated as being around 950 million. | |
India's vaccine drive picked up pace in early April, with 3.66 million doses administered on 10 April, the highest figure achieved by that date. | |
But it fell by nearly half in mid-May and several states suspended vaccinations for the 18-44 age group due to shortages. | |
Experts say that India had failed to order enough vaccines last year to avoid shortages. | |
What has the new policy changed? | |
The federal government now buys 75% of all vaccines manufactured. | |
The state governments get their vaccines doses for free from the federal government, rather than having to negotiate directly with manufacturers. | |
How India's vaccine drive went horribly wrong | |
What do we know about India's new vaccines? | |
The successes and failures of India's vaccine drive | |
However, it's worth noting that the remaining 25% of vaccines are still set aside for procurement by private hospitals as before. | However, it's worth noting that the remaining 25% of vaccines are still set aside for procurement by private hospitals as before. |
These vaccinations are not free - and have to be paid for at private hospitals. | |
The federal government has fixed prices for the three approved vaccines at 780 rupees ($10.7; £7.5) for Covishield, 1,145 rupees ($15.7; £11) for Sputnik V, and 1,410 rupees ($19.3; £13.6) for Covaxin. | The federal government has fixed prices for the three approved vaccines at 780 rupees ($10.7; £7.5) for Covishield, 1,145 rupees ($15.7; £11) for Sputnik V, and 1,410 rupees ($19.3; £13.6) for Covaxin. |
Prime Minister Modi made a national TV address on the vaccination programme (file photo) | |
Under the previous Covid vaccine policy, only half of all vaccines produced in India went to the federal government and 25% each to state administrations and private hospitals. | |
The states competed in the open market for the vaccines doses for 18-44 age group, but recipients were able to get them for free at state government's vaccination centres. | |
Meanwhile, the federal government was vaccinating frontline workers and those aged above 45 years - also for free. | |
Which means that in practice, 75% of vaccines were anyway administered free. | |
But state governments will now receive their allocated vaccine doses from the federal government based on the population of those states, the level of disease, vaccination progress and vaccine wastage. | |
That relieves the state authorities of having to purchase doses from the manufacturer at higher prices than were offered to the federal government. | That relieves the state authorities of having to purchase doses from the manufacturer at higher prices than were offered to the federal government. |
The announcement happened just days after the previous policy attracted criticism from India's top court, which called it "arbitrary" and "irrational". | |
It questioned the rationale behind making states pay more for vaccines than the federal government had to. | It questioned the rationale behind making states pay more for vaccines than the federal government had to. |
"This is a step in the right direction and will streamline some procurement-related challenges," says health policy expert Dr Chandrakant Lahariya. | |
But he adds that it doesn't change much for ordinary citizens as vaccines were already free at government centres. | |
Can India get all adults vaccinated this year? | |
The new policy is in fact similar to what India did when it began its vaccine rollout in January this year. | The new policy is in fact similar to what India did when it began its vaccine rollout in January this year. |
This was even acknowledged by Mr Modi himself, who said "the old system, in place before 1 May, will be implemented again." | This was even acknowledged by Mr Modi himself, who said "the old system, in place before 1 May, will be implemented again." |
The idea is that with states no longer needing to buy vaccines directly, they will not end up competing against each for a limited supply (which led to shortages in some areas.) | |
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