India's 8 poorest states may spend 30% health budget on Covid vaccination

 India's most socioeconomically backward states may have to spend as much as 30% of their health budgets to procure COVID-19 vaccines for their populations, an IndiaSpend analysis.

India's most socioeconomically backward states may have to spend as much as 30% of their health budgets to procure COVID-19 vaccines for their populations, an IndiaSpend analysis of population and state budget data has found.

These eight states--Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh--are among 20 that have announced COVID-19 vaccination free of cost for persons aged 18 to 44 years. They would have to shell out as much as 23% if they were to procure only Serum Institute of India's (SII) Covishield, and up to 30% for Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, our analysis shows. Covishield and Covaxin are the two COVID-19 vaccines already being administered, among three approved for use in India. While the Centre had clarified that it would procure vaccines at Rs 150 per dose from vaccine manufacturers, Covishield is being supplied to state governments at Rs 300 per dose and Covaxin at Rs 400 per dose.

Until April 30, India had been vaccinating only registered healthcare workers, frontline workers and those above the age of 45. Then the central government expanded vaccine eligibility to all adults. The Centre would continue to procure 50% of manufacturers' vaccine stocks for vaccinating the former groups, and manufacturers could sell the remaining 50% of their vaccine stock to state governments and to private hospitals, per the new policy.

The burden of procuring and administering vaccines for those aged 18 to 44 was thus shifted to the state governments, and to those individual households that can afford private vaccination.

The additional financial burden comes as all eight states, except Odisha, have reported a revenue deficit in their revised budget estimates for 2020-21, according to a PRS Legislative Research brief. States are facing shrinking revenues and increased expenditure on social safety nets due to the COVID-19 pandemic, IndiaSpend reported in April 2021.