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  Can states bring down vaccine prices? Yes, by  coming together as a single buyer A single buyer can always negotiate a lower price for a product with one or more sellers as against a market with multiple buyers. State governments should form a consortium without delay Updated: May 14, 2021 9:35:04 am A coordinated effort from state governments is needed to ensure both availability and affordability of vaccines. As India grapples with a daily Covid-19 caseload of well over 3,00,000, expedited vaccination is our best hope to flatten the curve. In the initial phases of its vaccination programme, the government of India assumed full responsibility to inoculate the nation. However, with the third phase, it has now transferred the entire responsibility of vaccinating 18-to 44-year-olds, a group that constitutes about 40 per cent of the population, to state governments. For this group, state governments will need to procure vaccines from manufacturers directly. Thus, the market for Covid-19

  No, India’s vaccine exports have not hampered domestic Covid fight Sambit Patra writes: On the contrary, helping the rest of the world reach inoculation targets is good diplomacy, good economics and good epidemiology. Updated: May 14, 2021 9:35:13 am Having India’s immediate neighbours vaccinated is essential for India’s own pandemic control measures. It is unfortunate that when the country is fighting a battle against Covid, certain vested interests are building up a fake narrative on the issue of vaccines exported by the government of India. Let us look at some facts. As on May 11, India exported 663.698 lakh vaccine doses to foreign countries. At the same time, about three times as many vaccine doses have been administered within India. Out of the exports, only 107.15 lakh vaccine doses have been sent as aid. That is, just about 16 per cent of the total exports. The remaining 84 per cent vaccine supplies fall in two categories. About 54 per cent of the total exports — 357.92 lakh

  Explained: Peak of India’s Covid-19 second wave in sight, but end may still be far away After the April surge, the daily count of new cases has dropped in the last one week. Several other factors indicate that the peak is approaching. But the end of the second wave is expected to be a slow process. Pune |  Updated: May 14, 2021 10:14:38 am A Covid-19 patient in an ambulance outside Gandhinagar Civil Hospital. Many have struggled to find a hospital bed because of the high number of cases. (Express photo by Nirmal Harindran) All indications from the coronavirus numbers in India in the last two weeks suggest that the second wave of infections may already have reached a peak, or will peak in the next few days. The end of the second wave may still be a long distance away, though. After reaching a high of 4.14 lakh last Thursday, the daily count of cases has dropped significantly in the last one week. This is not happening for the first time, though. After crossing the four-lakh mark for t

Union minister boycotts Asianet News channel,  says will follow party stand V Muraleedharan Asianet News has come under attack from the BJP for allegedly ignoring the post-poll violence in West Bengal. Written by Liz Mathew | New Delhi | Updated: May 14, 2021 10:29:03 am UNION MINISTER V Muraleedharan on Wednesday refused to include reporters from Asianet News channel in his official press meet, saying the Kerala BJP is boycotting the Malayalam channel over its coverage of the post-poll violence in West Bengal, and he as a party leader will do the same. “Be it official or non-official [press meet], I am a leader of the BJP. I will not invite a media group, which is being boycotted by Kerala BJP. I may be a Union minister… but I will follow that,” Muraleedharan said during the press meet at his official residence. Muraleedharan had convened the press meet to talk about the   death of a Kerala woman in a rocket attack in Israel   and the Covid situation in Kerala. His response came when

Panchkula to get more  ventilators, staff The money has been allocated from the MLA funds, “as this grant will help the Health Department to further develop Covid specialty framework and purchase the necessary equipment,” said Gupta. At a drive-through Covid Vaccination centre in Mohali (Express Photo: Kamleshwar Singh, File) Panchkula MLA and Haryana Vidhan Sabha speaker, Gian Chand Gupta, Thursday allocated Rs 50 lakh to the district administration to tackle the rising requirements of oxygen and intensive care units. The money has been allocated from the MLA funds, “as this grant will help the Health Department to further develop Covid specialty framework and purchase the necessary equipment,” said Gupta. Civil Surgeon, Dr Jasjit Kaur stated that the amount will be used to bring in trained staff to Panchkula and to procure ventilators to increase the number of critical care beds. “This amount will also be used to purchase equipment for patients under home isolation,” she said. Meanwh