India's COVID-19 Vaccination Drive

Have you taken the booster dose?

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AP and MH both non BJP ruled States claim they're short of vaccines but the Union Health Minister claims there's enough stock. It's tough to trust these politicians' words. Wonder who is telling the truth.

I can attest nearly all sr. citizens in my housing colony have been inoculated. Now the >45 folks are scheduled. So far there's no update about lack of stocks at least in the paid vaccine hospitals.
 
Great... I thought govt was helping SII to ramp up its capacity.
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AstraZeneca Legal Notice To Serum Institute Over Vaccine Delays

Adar Poonawalla's Serum Institute of India (SII), the maker of coronavirus vaccine Covishield in India, has reportedly been served a legal notice by AstraZeneca over vaccine supply delays.
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They are asking for 3000 crores worth of financial help from the government iirc
 
To be fair, the government is paying only Rs 150 per dose. This is far lower than what even countries poorer than India are paying. If they agree to provide all doses at this price, then the government should give them the funding.

The US and UK have invested heavily into covid vaccine facilities since last year and that's why they were able to vaccinate so quickly. Israel paid way more than any other country to buy doses and got them quickly. Everyone else is struggling.
 
To be fair, if there was a reasonable government in place, they would have nationalized SII for the next 5 years.

India is not a rich country but what it does have the manufacturing capacity and moral responsibility for the poor countries around the world because of these resources. These are not normal times that you would overpay for critical life saving vaccines to a private company so that they can buy millions of dollars worth of houses in Europe.
 

Nationalising companies didn't work out so well in the 1980s and 90s. I can only imagine government bureaucrats trying to run a vaccine company
 
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Nationalisation doesn't work in a majority of cases. The past 50+ years (banks were nationalised in 1969/70 IIRC) of nationalisation has thrown up more train wrecks than successes. Best example? Air India. Bureaucrats + political interference is a recipe for disaster for any organisation.

I encourage all those who can pay to opt for the paid version so that the more needy amongst the Indian public get their doses for free. It is something similar to what many have done with their gas cylinder subsidies.
 

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I wonder how many workplaces would have 100+ 45 year old employees. Excluding folks who have already taken vaccine on their own.
 
Won't a low-interest loan of 3000 crores work in this case? Or maybe a tax break based on the number of doses given to the Indian govt?
This doesn't seem to be a major issue, unless there are inside interests and political disagreement?
 
Banks, I believe are already stressed. In the budget itself it was mentioned that govt is going to be a major borrower from the market. While ₹3000 cr is relatively a smaller figure compared to what govt would be borrowing, the real details only bankers and govt would know.
Tax breaks could be an option. But that would mean AZ/Sii would need to invest. This needs to be seen.
 
@Sushubh medium to large manufacturing companies would probably be able to easily arrange to vaccinate 100+ employees especially those in the blue collar category. There are plenty such Cos in the near contiguous Mumbai-Thane-Pune industrial belts notably Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, DeLaval, Atlas Copco etc. Of course there's a massive presence of IT Cos in the Hinjewadi Pune area but most are working from home and can get the vax at the nearest hospital or centre. The same applies to metros like Chennai, Gurugram/NCR, Kolkata and Bangalore.
 
that's the thing. around mumbai, it is likely that people are living at far off places from their workplace relying on trains and buses to reach their offices. it's not like gurgaon where you can catch an auto and reach office in a matter of 20-30 minutes.

manufacturing plants maybe. regular companies where most employees are still working from home? unlikely. especially considering india does not really have a reach problem. people do not have to travel for 10-20KM to reach the nearest vaccination center in cities.

and then account for the shortage controversy. what was even the point to even launch corporate vaccination drive when people are still working from home and can easily get vaccinated closer to their homes.

anyhoo...
 
it is a pretty badly kept secret that ineligible people are indeed getting vaccines. a friend from ambala told me that they have a local camp which is vaccinating everyone. and this is also the reason they stopped vaccination of frontline workers. no one was verifying. i saw four under 30 people vaccinating at my local center when i went with mom. no documents were checked. nothing.
 

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