Speaking at a virtual session of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)’s annual conclave on Thursday, Piyush Goyal said that the Indian industry had demanded vaccination to be opened up for them but later consistently failed to purchase enough of the 25 per cent of the vaccines allotted to the private sector.
“Everyone had demanded the same thing back then. Everyone had demanded the same thing, saying why the government is holding back the vaccination to itself. They (corporates) had asked to be allowed to vaccinate on their own. Each one had made tall claims saying they would vaccinate not only their employees but also their families, the neighbourhoods, the villages around our factories…I am waiting to see that synergy”, said the Minister of Commerce & Industry.
After receiving severe criticism from the private sector for not increasing the pace of vaccination, on June 21, the Centre had released revised guidelines for vaccine management announcing that the government would procure 75 per cent of the COVID-19 vaccines while allowing 25 per cent of them to be directly accessed by private hospitals.
Recently, the Centre had told the vaccine manufacturers that they are not required to keep 25 per cent of their production for private players and can supply to them only as much as they buy and giving remaining doses to the government.
