India will default on its year-end goal of universal adult vaccination. As the government stonewalls right-to-information requests on key aspects of its deal with Bharat Biotech, supply of Covaxin—one of the world’s cheapest vaccines by investment but among the costliest in the market—is marred by shortages. The financial details of the deal are secret, production capacity is unclear and royalties to the government are likely underpaid.

New Delhi: On 28 May 2021, at the height of the deadly second wave of Covid-19 cases, the Modi government announced that it would vaccinate all adults by the end of the year. Six months later, with only 39.7% of adults fully vaccinated, the government is certain to not meet this target, putting the country at greater risk of another wave in a pandemic that has officially taken over 4,60,000 lives.

The failure to vaccinate more Indians is particularly significant because India is one of the few countries in the world to have developed an indigenous public vaccine, which was rolled out in January 2021. The indigenous Covaxin has contributed only about 11% of doses administered, and experts blame the failure to ramp up Covaxin’s production, in particular the government’s strategy of relying exclusively on the small, Hyderabad-based private company Bharat Biotech International Limited, for India's sluggish pace of vaccination.

Despite Covaxin being developed with public resources, the government has offered a virtual monopoly to Bharat Biotech, in return for a 5% royalty on net sales, and a one-time fee of Rs 5,00,000. This indicates that one private company is cornering disproportionate gains from a vaccine developed with public money, experts have told Article 14.

The indigenous vaccine is also one of the most expensive in the world. In India, Covaxin costs more on average than the private Covishield vaccine.

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