India fares very poorly in comparison to other countries as far as expenditure and coverage for vaccinating it’s population goes. This, according to a recent white paper released by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).
“India lags behind its global peers when it comes to full immunisation coverage. Mexico and Brazil’s portfolio is far superior to that of India and China, as it includes both vaccine against cervical cancer (HPV) and Pneumo-coccal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) against Pneumonia,” points out the paper.
While India spent $20 (approximately Rs 1,374) behind an individual’s healthcare of which only $4 (approximately Rs 275) are spent on free vaccination, Vietnam spent four times the sum that India spends on health. Brazil and Turkey spend upto $410 (approximately Rs 28,175) on an individual’s healthcare which includes free immunisation, states the report.
While 2.7 crore children are covered under immunisation programme, close to 14.5 lakh still do not receive vaccines. While US offers almost 12 internationally recommended vaccines in its public healthcare programme, India offers only a maximum of seven.
One child under the age of five dies every two minutes in India due to pneumonia and diarrhoea. “Although many persons die of preventable diseases, vaccines for hepatitis A, pneumonia, cervical cancer, meningitis, varicella, influenza, and typhoid are still not offered in India,” said a senior official in the Union Health Ministry.
Even as PCV is said to be introduced in India from 2017 onwards, currently in private market, PCV is exorbitantly priced.
Dr Pradeep Haldar, Deputy Commissioner (immunisation) in the ministry says that cost-effectiveness of the vaccine is an issue. In private sector, three doses of PCV cost Rs 15,000. “We will be supported by Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation initially and then acquire vaccines under Government of India’s programme at subsidised costs,” he said.
The report blames bureaucratic red-tape as a hindrance. “The pace of development of these products have been so far hindered by bureaucratic red tape and delays in license and approvals. Such challenges, besides costing Indian manufacturers, also stand in the way of PCV roll-out,” it says.
In the meanwhile, Indian vaccine industry grew to approximately $1 billion (approximately 6,870.5k crore) in 2015. Market share of vaccines for export is 60 per cent, while those utilised in domestic market is 24 per cent. India also imports 16 per cent of it’s vaccines from abroad. For example, Japanese Encephalitis vaccine is imported from Chengdu in China.
The report points out: “This large gap is created mainly by 2 vaccines—PCV and HPV. There are currently no Indian manufacturers and entire global supply, including Indian domestic market supply is dominated by two multinationals manufacturing in high-cost countries.”
Also, storage of vaccines is an issue. According to National Cold Chain & Vaccine Management Resource Centre, there already exists a 25 per cent shortage in overall cold chain capacity to meet current needs.
