NEW DELHI, June 3 : Noting that the Centre had financed and facilitated the production of vaccines through concessions or otherwise, the Supreme Court sought clarification on whether it would be accurate to state that private entities had alone borne the risk and cost of manufacture.

It noted that as Emergency Use Authorisation had been granted by the Centre to the manufacturers thereby minimizing their risk, it should have factored in the pricing.

The Court has also sought for a comparison between the prices of the vaccines being made available in India, to their prices internationally.  A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, L. Nageswara Rao and S. Ravindra Bhat, in their 31st May order in the Suo Moto COVID case, stated that they commended the cooperative efforts of the Union of India and the private manufacturers in developing and distributing vaccines which were critical to mitigate the pandemic.

Remarking that the import of their line of questioning was to facilitate a better understanding of the process of development of vaccine production as well as its pricing for States/UTs and private hospitals, the Bench directed the Centre to provide the following clarifications:  "1. Since the Central Government has financed (officially, Rs 35 crores to BBIL and Rs 11 crore to SII for phase 3 clinical trials) and facilitated the production (or augmentation of production) of these vaccines through concessions or otherwise, it may not be accurate to state that the private entities have alone borne the risk and cost of manufacture. Additionally, the Central Government would have minimized the risks of the manufacturers by granting Emergency Use Authorization to the vaccines, which should factor into its pricing.