Vaccination prices: Rahul Gandhi alleges Modi is helping his friends

The other day, the Modi government liberalized the vaccination policy, letting state governments, private hospitals and vaccination centres procure vaccines from the open market. On Wednesday, the Serum Institute of India, which manufactures the Covishield vaccine, said that it would be fixing the price of each dose of vaccine at Rs 400 for state governments and Rs 600 for private hospitals. 

SII said that the company has taken the decision keeping in mind the prices of global vaccines. It said that American vaccines cost more than Rs 1,500 per dose. Russian and Chinese vaccines cost more than Rs 750 per dose.

Taking to Twitter, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slammed the Centre on its vaccination policy, calling it discriminatory. He alleged in his Hindi-language message that Modi is benefitting his cronies. 

However, the former Congress President has been faulted for using a faulty argument. “If a company doesn’t make money, it has no incentive to produce billions of more doses. It is precisely that “profit” incentive that will get the entire world vaccinated rapidly. The State is subsidizing the poor. Those who can pay must pay. State shouldn’t subsidize the rich,” tweeted Hardik Rajgor, a social media user. 

It may be noted that the Centre will administer vaccines to the poor for free. They can have them at government vaccination centres.