Vaccination: A Money Making Business?

As India continues to show a downfall in daily COVID-19 cases, the speed of vaccination process has also increased day by day. According to records till June 5, around 2,76,35,937 people have received their first shot and a total of 1,60,406 have received the second shot since May 1. However we have a question, is vaccination a money making Business?

As we all know, the Maharashtra government had announced that age group 18-44 will be given vaccination at free of cost. However that is not really the case. Due to the high demand on vaccination through online registration on CoWin App, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have set up several Covid Vaccination Centre (CVCs) across different wards to allow walk-in Vaccination.

In the past few days several messages have been forwarded on social media stating the whereabouts of several CVC operating. Here is a particular message that was received by us-

As seen in the above picture, several CVCs of D Ward of Mumbai are operating on June 7. It also mentions the Covishield availability for 45+ age group with the mention of Covaxin for 18+ and 45+ age group at the JSS School.

To enquire about this out of our curiosity, one of our editors of Su-Niti News went to the JSS School to find out the truth. Here's what he found out.

The government staff present at the JSS School claimed that free vaccination is only available to 45+ age group waiting who are waiting for the second dose. For 18+ people who want to get their first shot, they have to pay a sum of Rs 900/- with the second dose available for free.

• On the CoWin App however, the first dose for 18+ is listed for free. When interrogated about this, the staff present there were unable to answer our questions clearly.

Following this visit we decided to travel to other centres mentioned to see what happens. Every centre we visited gave us the same answer. For 18-44, to get the first dose by walk-in vaccination, you will have to pay some amount. The prices were different at other centers and ranged from Rs 500- Rs 1,500/-

So what is going on here? Getting a slot through online registration on the CoWin App is more harder than winning a lottery of 10 million  through a 1 dollar ticket. The situation of vaccination is far worse in some suburbs. People have to spend there money to reach these far away centres and pay for staff which was supposed to be "free of cost" by the Government.

The State Government have emphasized on increasing the speed of the vaccination drive. Is it actually happening? The answer to this is still not clear. People who want to get administered are either having to wait for a long time through online registration or having to spend huge some on travelling and administration for the first dose.

What do you think about this? Have you experienced any sort of similar troubles for getting vaccinated? Feel free to share your stories with us.