Amid a virulent second wave of COVID-19 infections that is showing no signs of abating, the government has taken a major step by allowing vaccination of all persons above the age of 18 from May 1.

The decision, announced on Monday, followed a meeting of the Prime Minister, pharma companies, doctors, Cabinet ministers in charge of health, drugs and officials spanning multiple nodal ministries. The opening up of vaccination to all adults is part of some significant shifts in vaccination policy that revolves mainly around giving more control to the States, allowing them to procure additional vaccine doses directly from manufacturers. So far, the Centre has procured all supplies and distributed doses to states to vaccinate priority groups.

Manufacturers in turn, will be allowed to make 50 percent of the vaccine supply available directly in the open market and to state governments, at prices determined by them. This means that 50 percent of the supply of Covishield and Covaxin can be procured by state government and private hospitals and manufacturers have to declare the pricing for this basket before May 1. If other vaccines, like Russia’s Sputnik V, are manufactured in India, the 50-50 arrangement between central government and open market would apply.

The Centre has also said that imported, ready-to-use vaccines can be entirely utilised outside of the Government of India channel. This would mean that if a company like Pfizer or Moderna bring their vaccines to India they can sell the entire supply in the open market at competitive prices.

This new spur to vaccinations, which is the most effective weapon around the virus, is welcome though some concerns remain. The first is on manufacturing capacity and whether enough stocks of vaccine will be available to cater to the accelerated demand from May. When the year began, the government's plan was to inoculate 30 crore, or about a third of its adult population by August. As of Monday, only 8% had got one dose and 1% were fully inoculated. All support to increase manufacturing capability needs to be given. Second, while the ‘liberalisation’ of vaccine supply is the need of the hour, governments must also work to ensure that higher pricing for vaccines does not block access to those who need it most. These factors mark this story out as our top pick of the day.

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