States should not really be crying foul over SII’s prices. The unfortunate truth is that, by capping prices right from the beginning of India’s vaccination drive, the Centre effectively discouraged private sector players like SII and Bharat Biotech from beefing up vaccine production. Instead, the Centre should have procured some quanta for the economically weaker sections, leaving the rest to be sold in the open market. Now, we are facing critical shortages; the number of vaccination centres has fallen from close to one lakh in the early stages of the vaccination drive to just under 70,000 on April 23.
