Why do vaccine makers want indemnity and can it help our country with the current vaccine shortage crisis?
What’s New?
According to a report by ANI, the Serum Institute of India (SII) has asked for indemnity against liabilities from the Centre, writes Business Today. Sources told the news agency that if foreign vaccine makers are getting indemnity, then all Indian vaccine makers should get indemnity against liabilities as well.
What Is Indemnity?
Indemnity is protection to vaccine-makers from legal proceedings and this means that they can’t be sued in India. If a vaccine maker is given indemnity by the government of the land it is operating, it effectively means the public can’t sue it for negligence related to administering the vaccine. And if someone suffers side effects and decides to take the matter to court, the vaccine maker will not be liable to answer, but the government will have to become the respondent there.
The Importance
The question here is this: Vaccine makers manufacture the vaccines, so shouldn’t they take responsibility if the vaccines cause problems in the people who take them? Yes, but there is another problem here as well — The shortage of vaccines.
Already Pfizer and Moderna have said that they will export to India only if the transaction is with the Centre and the firm is protected from legal cases. So, If our government refuses to offer indemnity to foreign vaccine makers like Pfizer, then it will leave our country with one less major vaccine supplier and we don’t want that.
If the government grants indemnity to the vaccine makers like Pfizer, then the purchase price of the vaccine would be lower for the Indian government. Why so? Because Pfizer no longer has to take the risk of payment of compensation for injury or death caused by the vaccine, and this will be reflected in the price.
Zooming Out
So, will the government grant indemnity? Health ministry sources told News18, that the government may grant indemnity from liability to Pfizer and Moderna to expedite the approvals for the vaccines in India. This is why SII is also asking for indemnity, saying that if foreign vaccine makers are getting it, then all vaccine companies should get it. In the end, the question is who will take responsibility if the vaccines cause adverse side effects or even death to the people who take them? The government could set up an entity which would honour claims of the people who have suffered from serious side effects from the vaccines. Because at the end of the day, someone should be held accountable — be it the government or the vaccine manufacturers themselves.
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