Prime Minister Narendra Modi continues to blame states and government officials for the Centre’s utter failure to provide vaccines for people against COVID-19. While the states have been left in the lurch, whether it be procurement of vaccines or oxygen and medicines for citizens, the pandemic is tightening its grip on the country. The history of the Modi government has always been to deflect blame in matters of policy and welfare. In the case of vaccines, the missteps have been very evident and clear. India has always had a precedence of the Centre sourcing and providing vaccines for citizens. This has been the case for Polio, Small Pox and all other vaccines that are administered on a regular and continuous basis. There have never been any major hurdles in disbursement and distribution to various states in this tried and tested method. This is probably the first time the process has been altered and a completely new method is being tried, that too during the biggest pandemic the world has seen in recent times. The new method is putting the responsibility of procurement and distribution of vaccines squarely in the hands of the state governments. The major issue with this process is that state governments do not have the resources or the clout to outbid other countries and each other to snag vaccine deals from major producers.
At a time when countries, including India, are failing to sign deals in the race to vaccinate their populace at the earliest, expecting state governments to participate and win in the international level tug of war is not only impractical, it is outright cruel. In the process, the Centre has completely abdicated its responsibilities and left the citizens helpless and to fend for themselves in one of the most critical times. A pointed example of the helplessness of the states can be taken from Punjab, which is buckling under the pressures of the second wave, like most other states. The Punjab government has stated that it had independently reached out to various vaccine manufacturers including Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, Sputnik V and Moderna. Out of these, only Moderna responded, refusing to provide vaccines directly to Punjab, saying according to its official policy, it will only deal with the Government of India. Most other manufacturers would probably have similar policies. It may be noted that Punjab has been forced to stop vaccination due to non-availability of vaccines.
At such a juncture, the Prime Minister has been making video conferences with district magistrates to issue sermons to them to ensure, among other things, there is no wastage of vaccines. This is presuming as if there is enough availability of vaccines and the state administration is failing to plug wastage. Nothing can be further from the truth. The government has no answer to the barrage of criticism from the judiciary, several states and international media.
Whatever falsehood the BJP-led government at the Centre has been relying on to save its skin fell flat with the damning disclosure on May 21 by the executive director of the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), Suresh Yadav, producing the high in demand Covishield vaccines in India. Yadav squarely blamed the Centre for the country’s vaccine shortage. He claimed the government did not take into account the available stock of vaccines and ignored World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines while rolling out inoculation phases.
Initially, 300 million people were to be administered the vaccine for which 600 million doses were required. But, before the target could be reached, the government opened vaccination for all above 45 years, quickly followed by those aged 18 plus despite knowing very well that the required number of vaccine doses would not be available. A good example of successful vaccine rollout can be seen in many European nations. Take for example the UK. England has recently opened the window for 34 and 35 year olds to get their jabs, which is calculated to be about a million plus people. India, on the other hand, has already declared vaccines for all above the age of 18. The announcement has been made by the Central government and not by states. This has resulted in a huge rush for vaccines, bottlenecks created at every level, jamming of ill functioning websites needed to book slots and basically resulted in chaos. This shows the utter carelessness and miscalculation on the part of the government at Centre. The urge of the Modi government to build image without backup action has taken a heavy toll on the nation. The pandemic has taken a death grip on India in the so-called second wave, taking millions of lives and wreaking many families. Another sad post script is that WHO has not yet approved ICMR developed Covaxin of India. This implies, all those who have received the jab will not qualify to travel internationally, whenever borders open for Indians.