Congress on Wednesday took a jibe at the centre after Union Minister Nitin Gadkari at a conference advised that more domestic pharma companies should be allowed to manufacture Covid vaccines in the country to ramp up the production.
Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh shared Gadkari’s video clip from the event and tweeted, “But is his Boss listening? This is what Dr Manmohan Singh had suggested on April 18th.”
Ramesh here reminded the centre that Manmohan Singh had already written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April on ways to mitigate the vaccine shortage faced by India.
Slamming BJP, Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill tweeted, "Mr Gadkari says to solve Vaccine demand-supply issue more manufacturing licenses should be given Problem is-Nation is demanding vaccines, BJP is supplying fake tool kits. Good to know at least 1 BJP Minister is waking up to reality-How many more have to die to wake up the 'System'?"
Addressing vice-chancellors of universities in India virtually on Tuesday, rad transport minister Gadkari said that if vaccine demand is more than supply it will create problems, thus, more domestic pharma companies should be given licence to produce covid vaccines to increase the production. "If the demand for vaccines is more than its supply, then it creates a problem. So, instead of one company, 10 more companies should be allowed to make vaccines by paying 10 per cent royalty to the original patent holder of the vaccine,” he said.
"Let them supply in-country and later, if there's a surplus, they may export. It can be done in 15-20 days," Gadkari added.
Also Read: With recovery toll mounting over 2 crore, India maintains a declining trend in fresh cases
He further stated, "There are 2-3 laboratories in every state. They should be given the formula to produce the COVID-19 vaccines. They can give royalty.”
However, on Thursday, Gadkari clarified that he was not aware of the government's efforts to boost vaccine production. "I was unaware that the Ministry of Chemicals has started these efforts before I had given a suggestion yesterday. GoI is already facilitating vaccine manufacturing by 12 different plants/companies and rapid ramp-up of production is expected in near future as a result of these efforts," Gadkari tweeted.
What had Manmohan Singh suggested?
Former Prime Minister on April 8 wrote a letter to PM Modi recommending that any vaccine that has been given clearance for use by any credible authorities such as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or the US FDA should be allowed to be imported without insisting on domestic bridging trials.
Several states have waved a vaccine shortage issue and have not been able to start vaccinating the 18-44 age group.
Presently, three vaccines are being used to inoculate people- Covaxin, Covishield and Sputnik V. however, Sputnik V is not widely available in the country.
Also Read: H-1B Visas: Back to pre-Trump as Biden removes restrictive rules
Earlier, Arvind Kejriwal has made a similar request.