"Why Not One Nation One Price": Congress Bats For States On Vaccines

States have coping with shrinking GST revenues, lower tax devolution, reduced grants-in-aid and increased borrowing, the Congress said.

The price of vaccines should be the same for the Centre and the states and a higher price cannot be passed onto states, which are already hugely cash strapped, the Congress said today, attacking the Centre over the vaccine policy it announced yesterday for 18 to 45-year-olds. "We have no problem in vaccine manufacturers in making profits, but the Centre cannot abdicate its responsibility," said former union minister P Chidambaram, adding, "You want one nation one market etc.Why can't we have one nation one price?" Under the new policy, vaccine makers will supply 50 per cent of their monthly Central Drugs Laboratory-released doses to the Government of India and will be free to supply the rest to state governments and the open market. But they have to announce the price for states and open market before May 1, the government has said -- a move that has opened up a debate over the pricing issue. Congress's Rahul Gandhi has questioned why 18 to 45-year-olds will not get free vaccine.