SpiceHealth CEO Avani Singh Urges Government To Open Up Manufacturing And Procurement Of Vaccines To Private Sector
The thing about being struck down by a relatively unknown and rather dangerous enemy, precisely the kind we’re face right now – noble coronavirus, is that it leaves everyone conflicted as to what course to take. Even though governments across the world had announced their intentions to fight the virus with patience and strategic lockdowns, there was no denying that it wouldn’t come with a bearing on the economy and health conditions. Especially in a country like India, where the situation is seemingly getting worse.
As the government is trying to get the population aware and vaccinated, the drives are running slow and one of the major factors for it is the shortage of vaccines in the market, more so since the government allowed for people in the age bracket of 18 to 45 also eligible for the jab.
Almost a necessity right now, despite attempts being made by several hundred and thousand people to get a slot on the cowin website, most people still haven’t gotten vaccinated. And addressing this problem recently was Avani Singh, the chief executive officer of SpiceHealth and daughter of SpiceJet Ltd. Chairman Ajay Singh.
Avani Singh, CEO of SpiceHealth and daughter of SpiceJet Ltd Chairman Ajay Singh, has called upon Centre to open up manufacture and procurement of COVID-19 vaccines to private sector. pic.twitter.com/iHHoFIJ8H6
— Swavalamban, The Startup Club (@TheStartupClub3) May 31, 2021
Also Read : Latest Research Shows COVID Vaccine Does Not Affect Placenta In Pregnant Women
Urging on the need to open up the manufacturing and procurement of vaccines to the private sector, Ms. Singh observed that this might be the only way to save our country. She said, “The government needs to become much more lenient in opening up vaccination to the private sector.”
She went on to say, “We are obviously moving at a much slower pace with vaccinations than we should be. If they let private players like labs and hospitals procure vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and let private players make Covaxin more aggressively we could significantly ramp up the administration and build up enough immunity to get out of this faster. Not allowing labs and hospitals to procure and facilitate vaccines is a huge untapped potential.”
#SpiceHealth CEO Avani Singh has urged the government to open up the manufacture and procurement of #vaccines to the private sector, saying that this is the only way to ensure that the country's enormous population is adequately protected from the pandemic.#TheNewsShots pic.twitter.com/sIXYYuiL9d
— News Shots (@thenewsshots) May 31, 2021
Highlighting the shortage that India is facing currently, in terms of all the resources from medicines, to vaccines to hospital beds and more, Avani spoke about how grave the situation really is. She shared, “It was criminal what was going on around the country. The general perception in the country was we’re done, Covid is gone and that was an incorrect perception to have. To a certain extent it was avoidable and to a large extent we were just not equipped for it.” And we’d be lying if we didn’t agree with her on India being ill-equipped to handle this right now.
With a view to turn the situation around, Singh shared her intention of offering end-to-end solution from procurement to transportation and administration of shots to the people. “The biggest bottleneck with vaccines is the procurement, getting hold of companies that will sell directly to the private sector. That’s the challenge most companies that are trying to get involved are facing,” said Avani.
