Mumbai, March 24 Maharashtra Congress Legislature Party leader Vijay Wadettiwar on Tuesday opposed the reported move to hand over a rare, historically significant vaccine strain from the Haffkine Institute to a private company, alleging it could adversely impact public health and make vaccines more expensive for the poor.
Wadettiwar raised the issue in the state assembly through a point of information, objecting to the process initiated after a proposal from Reliance Life Sciences for procuring the DPT (Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus) vaccine strain, and questioned the urgency with which an Expression of Interest was sought by Haffkine institute.
Established in 1899, the Haffkine Institute is one of the oldest biomedical research institutes in the country. It is named after scientist Dr Waldemar Mordecai Haffkine, who invented the plague vaccine.
The institute is engaged in multiple roles, including training, research, and testing of various aspects of infectious diseases.
Wadettiwar claimed, "The DPT vaccine strain held by Haffkine is an extremely rare and historic bio-resource with a market value of hundreds of crores. Despite this, the institute hastily initiated the process of inviting an Expression of Interest without adequate deliberation."
The Congress leader further questioned why a public institution capable of producing vaccines independently would consider handing over such a valuable asset to a private entity.
"When Haffkine itself has the capacity to manufacture vaccines, why is a biological asset of around Rs 1,500 crore being handed over to a private company?" he asked.
Warning of broader implications, Wadettiwar claimed, "If this strain goes into private hands, vaccines that are currently available at affordable rates may become expensive, directly affecting common citizens and weakening the public health system."
He also expressed concern over the control of critical biological resources.
"Allowing a private company to control the state's valuable bio-assets is a serious risk. The process to transfer the strain must be halted immediately and Haffkine should instead be strengthened to expand its own production," he added.