The Union Health Ministry will procure vaccines from private manufacturers at less than half the market price for a two-year period. The procurement will be at no extra cost to the government, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss told The Hindu. Written agreements were drawn up with private manufacturers to provide vaccines at a subsidised cost. For instance, a vial which costs Rs. 42 in the market would be sold to the government at Rs.16-17. "This will be exactly the same cost that we incur in the public sector units.' Rejecting the claim that the closure of three public sector units would cripple the immunisation programme, Hesaid the public sector was not taking care of the entire vaccine stockpile of the nation; in fact, its contribution was only a small percentage of the usage of the country.