Make boosters free

Private channel alone will not be enough

India’s vaccination programme has seen some major changes in the past few days. The government has, for one, opened up access to booster shots — what it calls “precaution doses” — to all individuals over 18. Those above the age of 18 who received their second shot more than nine months earlier will become eligible for a booster, which had already been opened up weeks ago to health care workers, frontline workers, and all those aged 60 and above. These additional shots, however, will have to be taken from private sector channels and not through the free vaccination programme. The manufacturers of the two vaccines that represent the vast majority of Indian doses have also reviewed their prices. The Serum Institute of India has revised the price of its vaccine, called Covishield in India, down from Rs 600 to Rs 225 a shot. Bharat Biotech has also set a price of Rs 225, down from Rs 1,200 earlier. Private centres will continue to be able to charge up to Rs 150 a dose as service fees.
 

The government’s decision to add a booster shot to the vaccination programme in the face of a virus that continues to mutate and evade immunity is welcome. As the prime minister rightly pointed out, the Covid-19 threat does not have a single face, and the vaccination programme must be resilient in order to manage constant shifts in the virus’ pattern of attack. Booster shots are an essential part of this arsenal, and will allow India’s economic reopening to proceed while minimising the public health threat. Omicron may be less deadly than the delta variant, but as Hong Kong and Shanghai show, it can nevertheless cause deaths and economic disruption. These must be avoided, and boosters are one way to do it. It is also vitally important for the government to understand why the regular — i.e. non-booster — vaccination programme is still at only 80-85 per cent of those eligible. While the first-dose coverage is almost universal, the problem of getting people to come back in a timely fashion for their second continues. For comparison, Bangladesh is now closing in on 100 per cent of the targeted population for the second dose.

However, it is unfortunate that the government seems to have returned to its old way of thinking when it comes to distribution by refusing to issue boosters to the 18-60 age group through the public vaccination programme. The reasons why the two doses of the regular vaccination course were made free apply with equal force to the booster dose. It is essential that individuals be incentivised to get the booster, and that can best be done by keeping the public vaccine distribution system in play and also having the free option available. It is false economy to try and get individuals to pay for their boosters, as fewer will then get the boosters — to the detriment of overall public health and the economic revival. This aspect of the otherwise welcome booster decision should be rethought.