Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 4: While The prime minister Narendra Modi assured the country that Coronavirus vaccine will become available within the next few weeks and that India’s vaccination programme would begin as soon as scientists give a go-ahead, the opposition parties attacked the government claiming that the poor in the country not in its radar for vaccination.
Modi, who chaired an all-party meeting via video conferencing on Friday to discuss the COVID-19 Vaccination programme strategy, said the government was developing a comprehensive vaccination strategy. He emphasised that the world was looking towards India for the development of a safe and affordable vaccine. He also announced the formation of a National Expert Group comprising the technical experts and officials of both the central and the state governments for deciding various vaccine-related issues depending on the national and regional requirements.
However, the Congress alleged that the government had no roadmap for the poor population of the country, or people who were not frontline workers. The leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury after the all-party meet said the government was reiterating that those who need vaccination would get vaccine. “But who’s going to decide this? No plan was discussed how the vaccine will be given to the poor,” Chowdhury said.
Political parties that participated in the meeting included among others, the Congress, Trinamool Congress, DMK, YSR Congress Party, JD(U), BJD, Shiv Sena, TRS, BSP, SP, AIADMK and BJP. The leaders assured the Prime Minister of their full support to ensure efficient and speedy vaccination. They hailed the leadership of the Prime Minister in tackling the pandemic and praised the scientific community as well as vaccine manufacturers for their efforts in vaccine development, an official spokesman of the central government claimed.
The Prime Minister shared his experience of visiting the vaccine manufacturing facilities in Ahmedabad, Pune, and Hyderabad, informing that about eight potential vaccines, currently in different stages of trial, would be manufactured in India including the three indigenous vaccines.
Modi said it was expected that the vaccine would be available in the coming few weeks. The vaccination campaign would kickstart in India as soon as the vaccine is approved by the scientists. The Central government was working in close coordination with the State governments to identify the priority groups for vaccination.
Underlining India’s vaccine distribution expertise, capacity and presence of an experienced and vast network for vaccination, the Prime Minister said this would help the country in streamlining Covid vaccination. Collaboration with State Governments would be established for additional cold chain equipment and other such logistical requirements.
The prime minister said a National Expert Group that included technical experts and officials of both the Central Government and the state governments, had been constituted to shoulder the responsibility of the campaign related to the vaccine. The National Expert Group would take decisions collectively as per national and regional requirements.
The Prime Minister mentioned that Indians have fought this pandemic with indomitable will, noting that the restraint, courage, and strength of Indians had been incomparable and unprecedented during this entire battle. “We not only helped our fellow Indians but also made every effort to save the citizens of other countries as well. Also, the scientific methodology adopted by India led to increased testing in India, which not only reduced the positivity rate but also reduced the covid mortality rate,” he said.
The Prime Minister cautioned against rumors that may be spread about vaccination, saying that it would be against both public interest and national interest. He called upon all the leaders to make the citizens of the country more aware, and prevent any such rumors from spreading.
The opposition criticism of the government’s lack of planning for the vaccination programme come in the wake of conflicting claims coming from various official quarters and the confusion over how many people the government planned to vaccinate. Health secretary Rajesh Bhushan has recently said the government never spoke about vaccinating the entire country. Director-general of Indian Council of Medical Research Balram Bhargava also said that if a critical mass of people was identified and vaccinated that helped break the virus transmission, then there would be no need to vaccinate the entire population.
According to centre’s plan, initially 30 crore frontline workers will be vaccinated against the Covid-19. “Priority in this (vaccination) will be given to the healthcare workers involved in treating Covid-19 patients, frontline workers and old people suffering from serious conditions,” Modi said.