The presumed assertions mended by the government in its vaccination policy discerns misinterpretation of the thought procedure. While the pandemic seized its pinnacle last year, The Modi Government proclaimed that they had procured sufficient production for inoculating its citizens. A year has passed, and the woes have worsened with time, as the vaccination drive estimations backfired. The woeful projection of India’s vaccine demand throttled the citizen’s aspirations of getting jabbed.
Initially, the vaccine procurement clanged relief across ailing people, but who knew to face despair by standing in long queues. Throughout the vaccination drive, approximately 34 crore Indian citizens have been inoculated against the coronavirus. Has the atrocious ambition of Prime Minister Narendra Modi crafted a graveyard? Significantly, the Atma Nirbhar Bharat subjected to agitating the citizens while miserably playing with their lives.
The government has manifested the responsibility of an uphill task of vaccinating the whole nation by December 2021. The underlying truth is that the BJP is exaggerating its powers even when it has no prowess to fulfill the distant dream so ferociously. Why I am so affirmed at my stance, well, there’s hindsight behind that. The government no-risk policy has been exhibited worldwide as a detrimental act. Wonder how exhilarated the citizens would have been if the vaccines got administered efficiently and on time. A colossal number of lives would not have borne the dearth of the pandemic and might have got forwarded towards the new normal.
While several other countries just like the UK and also the US adopted at-risk policies for the production and administration of their vaccines, India hindered its approach because of interference from national regulations to dispose the vaccines to the states. The contrasting viewpoint got highlighted even more when the vaccination drive hit a striking meltdown due to uncorroborated prices and inexplicable supplies.
The proactiveness of other countries was inevitable as they examined the earnestness of vaccines. It possibly was the sole prevention against the deadly coronavirus. The egotism of the Indian government got reflected as they ignored the analysis of scientists and distributed mammoth stockpiles abroad. The urge of the nation was to forbid exports of vaccines following the deteriorating health stimulation across states.
A faster rollout constituted the need of the hour as the alarming signs were vigilant during the treacherous second wave of the pandemic. While other states grasped their mistakes from the past, India’s ascendancy continued to stammer nation hopes into coalition. Is there anyone else to blame for the vaccine mishandling? To some extent, the pharmaceutical companies decided to dictate the norms of differential pricing. Till now, over 600 million doses have been dispensed to foreign allies, while enhancing the troubles of the natives. An intriguing fact is that these doses would have covered 40 percent of the scattered population. However, the stakes were high, the government remained tedious and didn’t assimilate its efforts to nail the brief.
Will the vaccination program help in mitigating the impact of the second wave? For that to be the case, significant investments need to be disseminated to India’s pharmaceutical companies for ramping up their production. The initial lukewarm response to the vaccination drive instilled a pathway for overcrowded vaccination centers. As the chaos escalated with spiking chaos and demand, the supply started draining and there was no stock left.
During the tormenting time in April, the grappling became apparent, and an induced investment was sought redressal by SII’s CEO Adar Poonawalla. However, the government failed to deliver yet again. The striking and controversial storyline got revealed. Adar claimed that his company had requested Rs 3,000 crore funding to expand its distressing capacity.
The ticking clock weakened India’s position, and even though the Finance Ministry relaxed rules to propagate advance payments to SII and Bharat Biotech, it all went in vain. Later that month, a shocking statement by SII showcased the diplomatic face of the government as it said that the larger chunk of the payments accounted for the government’s previous orders. Keeping in check, there was not sufficient scope of expansion for activating a massive production change of Covishield. A primitive example of blatantly dictating the vaccine policy.
Enacting As the Supreme Lender, Government’s Karma Did Not Virtue
The Indian government acknowledged the dire state of other countries and stretched its endeavors to assist them out of the darkened times. In retrospect, the decision hurt the sentiments of the citizens as they were left bewildered by the negligence imposed at their end. As PM Modi‘s vision of enacting as the supreme lender of vaccines attained momentum, India’s precarious situation went on an overriding turmoil.
Now, when the spike decline has commenced, the government has been struggling to procure vaccines from the international markets. The Centre dwindling on providing indemnity shows hindrance in giving protection to the pharmaceutical companies. Other countries have proclaimed their relations with India by proffering a helping hand. However, the vaccine allocation demand hasn’t been fulfilled as they reiterated on prioritizing their citizens.
The two prominent vaccine developing companies across the world- Pfizer-BioNTech, and Moderna-NIAID have denied procurement requests of the Indian government on several occasions. On May 24, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agrawal asserted that both the companies have claimed that their order books got fully utilized, and there’s no scope of extension momentarily.
The encumbered delay in swiftly responding to the vaccine shortage shows a sign of no risk. The government remained adhered to its stance until April 31 before realizing to seek out the procurement of vaccines from the international markets. Recently, the government tried to seek redemption from its failure as it decided to bank on at-risk investments regarding the vaccination policy.
Unlike last year when the provision of the vaccines got shackled thanks to approval constraints, the government has placed preliminary orders for 30 crore doses of Biological Covid E’s vaccine. It embodies repositioning of actions for achieving the immunization goal against coronavirus. The question on everyone’s lips- is the government trying to recuperate its tarnished image, or better days are destined for India?
Keeping in mind that the government has prolonged the at-risk investments, and the advance order of Rs 1,500 crores is the first stepping stone in uprightness, it is challenging to have an insight into political vendetta. The government needs to act swiftly and divulge indemnity to the domestic as well as the international vaccine developing companies. Vaccinating 1.3 billion people between August and December is highly ambitious, but could get gratified if the political leaders unified their efforts for the sake of overcoming the pandemic.
