KSSP urges Centre to ramp up vaccine production

The Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad has urged the Union government to accelerate production of COVID-19 vaccines with the help of some 21 manufacturers in India including those in the public sector.

The Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad has urged the Union government to accelerate production of COVID-19 vaccines with the help of some 21 manufacturers in India including those in the public sector. “The only way to curtail the intense spread of the pandemic is to vaccinate maximum number of people. The situation is favourable with the US government choosing to forgo intellectual property rights over the vaccine. The Centre should make use of this opportunity to ramp up vaccine production in India,” the science body said. Some 100 of the 164 countries in World Trade Organisation also supported the IPR relaxations on vaccine production. The Centre, with a budget outlay of ₹35,000 crore for vaccination and the donations of nearly ₹1 lakh crore to PM Care, was financially well-placed to ram up vaccine production, KSSP said.