SpiceJet scion urges India to open vaccination to private sector

Avani Singh, the CEO of SpiceHealth and daughter of SpiceJet Chairman Ajay Singh, has called upon India’s government to open up the manufacture and procurement of vaccines to the private sector, saying it’s the only way to ensure the nation’s vast population receives adequate protection from the pandemic. “The government needs to become much more lenient in opening up vaccination to the private sector,” Singh said last week. “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.” India is suffering the world’s worst Covid-19 outbreak and its health care system is collapsing as it runs short of everything from hospital beds to oxygen cylinders. SpiceHealth was founded in November last year, a time when parent company SpiceJet Ltd., India’s second-largest airline, was hard hit by the pandemic. So much red ink has prompted airlines around the world to look for new revenue streams as they burn through cash. SpiceJet began selling Covid tests for around $4 to passengers to get them back on planes. Story has more.<br/>