India should fully centralise jab procurement, set up vaccine commission to decide interstate allocation: EY

India should follow a completely centralised Covid-19 vaccine procurement policy to minimise costs with a vaccination commission to oversee interstate vaccine allocation and pricing, EY said in a report on Thursday.

Centralised vaccine procurement would keep costs to a minimum since a single agency for purchase would be able to reap economies of scale and have much better bargaining power in the domestic and international markets, said DK Srivastava, EY India chief policy advisor, in the report.

The cost of vaccinating 1.08 billion Indians, representing the population aged 12 and above, would come up to Rs 65,108 crore at Rs 300 per dose for the Centre.


The involvement of state governments in vaccine procurement at Rs 500 per dose would unnecessarily push up the cost to Rs 1.09 lakh crore, against the Centre’s budget allocation of Rs 35,000 crore, EY said.

Srivastava advocated for a two-channel distribution of vaccines through the government and private sector with no distinction between Centre and states.

The government or Supreme Court-appointed vaccine commission could decide the vaccine prices for the two channels, the report said.

A targeted distribution strategy that focused on the worst-affected states and regions would be far more effective than the current ad-hoc method, EY said, adding that state governments should be allowed to decide the vaccination strategy for their respective jurisdictions.

Rather than extending lockdowns, India should extend its vaccination strategy to provide universal coverage with strategic sequencing under conditions of supply shortage, according to the report.

India vaccinated 1.9 million people on Wednesday taking the total figure to 202 million, official data showed.

The government’s policy focus should be geared towards ensuring growth of at least 8.7% in the ongoing fiscal so that gross domestic product (GDP) recovers to FY20 levels, the report said.