Mamata Banerjee questions Covid-19 vaccine price disparity

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on wednesday questioned the non-uniformity in vaccine pricing for the state and private hospitals soon after the Serum Institute of India (SII) issued fresh prices of its Covishield vaccine.

While responding to a question during a press conference over vaccine prices, Banerjee said, “I will write a letter to the Centre for its intervention to fix disparity in pricing for states and private hospitals. It is not the time for business. It’s time to save lives as people are suffering due to Covid-19.”

While states can acquire the vaccines at for Rs 400 per dose, private hospitals will get the vaccines for Rs 600 per dose.

“So far, we have administered 93 lakhs doses of Covid-19 vaccines in West Bengal and created Rs 100 crore fund for universal vaccination in the state. We have asked for 1 crore additional Covid-19 vaccines from the Centre,” she said.

Banerjee sharpened her attack on the prime minister and BJP yet again over the resurgence of Covid-19, terming the new wave of Covid-19 a "Modi-made disaster" and demanded that he quit if unable to provide adequate medical supplies to combat the disease.

Banerjee had earlier called the Centre’s ‘universal vaccine policy’ decision from May 1, 2021 a ‘hollow’ promise, that presented a ‘regrettable show of evasion of responsibility at the time of crisis. "The second Covid wave is more intense. There are no injections or oxygen. Vaccines and medicines are being shipped abroad even as there is a scarcity of these items in the country,” she said on Wednesday while speaking at Balurghat in Dakshin Dinajpur district.

On managing Covid-19 crisis in the state, she said the state government is increasing beds at safe homes and in Covid-19 hospitals. "We are working to ease the oxygen crisis and talks are on with the service providers. The Election Commission (EC) should have clubbed the last few phases of elections due to rising Covid-19 cases. We will request the EC to allow Covid patients to cast votes through postal ballot.”

She said there was no proposal for any lockdown in West Bengal. "Lockdown will not happen in the state. Last year, people suffered a lot due to the lockdown. Therefore, we have decided to work effectively to contain the virus to avoid lockdown.”