Use all public sector drug production units to make vaccines, urges CPI(M)

It flags report that a unit in Tamil Nadu is lying unutilised

FILE PHOTO: A nurse displays a vial of COVISHIELD, the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India, at a medical centre in Mumbai, India, January 16, 2021. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas/File Photo

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has urged the Central government to use all public sector drug production facilities to make vaccines. At present only 1.1% of the country’s population has received both doses of vaccine and 7% has got a single dose.

The CPI(M) Polit Bureau in a statement here said that the Centre must spend the budgetary allocation of ₹35,000 crore for vaccine production immediately.

“The government immediately must marshal all public sector drug production facilities towards vaccine production. It is reported that one of the facilities in Tamilnadu, the Integrated Vaccine Complex (IVC), in the public sector, built at a cost of ₹600 crore is lying unutilised. Capacities of all such facilities need to be utilised to their maximum to meet the demand-supply gap,” the party said.

The party also asked the government to ensure transparency in distribution of vaccines and drugs utilised in the treatment of COVID-19. The Maharashtra government has claimed that the Centre is deliberately blocking supplies of remdesivir to the State.

“The Central government must mount pressure on the U.S. administration to uphold its commitment and ensure supply of essential raw material for vaccine production to India,” the statement added.

The Centre should stop indulging in “petty politics”, blaming citizens and shifting the blame to the State governments, it said.