Expanding vaccine supply

Some good moves but freer pricing needed

It is welcome news that the Union government has finally begun to consider what is required to scale up the availability and production of vaccines within the country. Broadening the vaccine supply chain should have been a priority from the start, and it is unfortunate that the government did not take an active interest in doing so — unlike those in most other countries with pharmaceutical industries like India. The government has now announced a series of grants, including Rs 65 crore to Bharat Biotech, the producers of the indigenously developed vaccine Covaxin, to increase the amount produced at its