The health ministry on Wednesday responded to Transparency International Pakistan’s concerns about allowing the coronavirus vaccine to be privately imported, saying the decision was taken so the vaccine could reach a larger segment of the population and because competition and free market dynamics would potentially reduce the price of the vaccine.
Transparency International this week raised concerns about the private sale of vaccines in a letter to the Prime Minister, saying it will cause inequality and open the door to corruption.
Health Secretary Aamir Ashraf Khawaja said the government allowed private imports so that population segments not currently part of the government inoculation campaign could be catered to.
“It was a well concerned decision of the federal government to allow the private sector to import vaccines as the national vaccination priorities favoured the health care workers and the elderly, involving some lag in reaching other segments of the society,” he said in a letter.
Last month, the government allowed the private import of the coronavirus vaccine and exempted such imports from price caps. This month, however, it reversed that decision and proposed a price of 8,449 rupees ($54.30) per pack of two injections of Sputnik V and 4,225 ($27.15) per injection for Convidecia, which will be China’s CanSino’s trade name.
Khawaja said the decision was revered “to keep a check on prices instead of leaving it solely to free market dynamics.”
“It may be added that the government is fixing the maximum retail price,” Khawaja said in the letter, adding that this meant competition and free market dynamics could potentially reduce the price from the maximum retail price.
Khawaja said economics of scale were not available to private importers and small players in the way they were to the government and international organizations, which could purchase vaccines in the millions.
“It is not easy for small players to access a small number of vaccines,” the letter said, adding: “Whatever number of doses they [private and small importers] can bring in, means potentially saving lives … Pakistan remains committed to fighting Covid with everything available at its disposal.”
