Skip to main content

Whither Vaccine Utsav? How India lost 4 precious months in self-congratulatory mode

By Harshavardhan Purandare, Sandeep Pandey* 

India has been advertised as ‘the country with a great future’ ever since we globalised in the 1990s, but now this narrative of the future has become empty rhetoric to hide our weaknesses. At present, we paint a pathetic picture of ourselves. 
As Covid-19 second wave reaches the marginalised sections of our society with the slow but silent spread of the pandemic to rural India it is the worst nightmare faced by us in recent history. The dead bodies are floating in Ganga in hundreds. It appears to be a humanitarian crisis now. ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ is now “Ram Bharose” and there are dark stains on ‘Clean Ganga.’
The most important work ahead of us is to vaccinate, vaccinate and vaccinate. India has traditionally been weak on public health infrastructure, so shortage of oxygen, beds, medicines and ventilators in government facilities is expected. The health services owned by the private sector are affordable only to a very limited well-to-do section of population.
The market economy might have managed to put cell phones in every hand, but markets are bad keepers of health. So overall, we are struggling to cure the infected. But we could have done a lot better in not getting infected in the first place. Vaccination is the mantra and it has been our forte. But as weeks pass we are now losing on that advantage and opportunity too.
The recent roll out of the vaccination blueprint by the Modi government gives us a rosy picture that we are going to get ‘216 Crore’ vaccines between ‘August to December 2021’. Considering that the vaccination programme in India began on January 16, 2021, and the fact that vaccine is going to be effective only for a year, even if everything works out according to plan, which appears very unlikely given the present state of uncertainty, by the time we vaccinate enough population to kick in herd immunity it’ll be time to begin fresh round of vaccination all over again.
This blueprint avoids very basic questions that need to be asked about the present failure of our vaccination programme and shuns us from the lessons that we should be learning while in battle field. It appears to be more of a headline management by the Modi government as seen on numerous occasions in the past. We were once told that we are going to become 5 trillion dollars economy, but that fantasy balloon has busted. We cannot afford a vaccination programme to meet the same fate.
In spite of having a strong pharmaceutical sector, we have failed in procurement of vaccines. India is called the pharmacy of the third world and has largest vaccine producing capacity. We have successfully vaccinated our population against small pox and polio in the past. The complacency and superstition did lead us to think that Corona was over after the first wave and we were told to celebrate ‘Vaccine Utsav’. We lost 3-4 months of precious time in self congratulatory mode.
We even began exporting the vaccines beyond our real exporting capacity and lost balance with domestic demand. We projected ourselves as a potential vaccine powerhouse of the world, and now we have positioned ourselves as bulk purchaser from global market. Adar Poonawala, on whom the government had put its bet and Modi visited Serum Institute as symbolic gesture, has left for London, probably for greener pastures and possibly for ever. Poonawala’s exit with his statement that “He is pressurized for vaccines in India'' is symptom of our broken system in spite of a ‘strong’ Prime Minister at the helm of affairs.
Corona vaccination is basically a race with time and it was a grave mistake that our leadership assessed that we have time at our disposal
Corona vaccination is basically a race with time and it was a grave mistake that our leadership assessed that we have time at our disposal. We have no bulk of vaccine flowing in before July-August and by that time lakhs of Indians will be dead with statistical underreporting by various state governments.
As a remedy, the states are given freedom to procure for themselves. It is abdication of responsibility by the centre, but also depicts that the bargaining capacity and diplomatic power of the Modi government is not of much use when it is needed most.
There are problems with delivery, too.
Idea of the vaccination process being administered through the virtual backbone of Cowin App is exciting. Connecting to the system through mobile and Aadhar is a good thing to streamline the rush at the centres and allocate slots. But that is about it. Cowin cannot ensure anything beyond that. Cowin earned its own internet jokes as it never was end in itself. Delhi High Court has ridiculed the irritating message on vaccination before every phone call when there are no vaccines available.
India should have a universal vaccination programme like it had for small pox and polio and government should have taken complete responsibility of it. Decentralization with effective knowledge transfer and appropriate investments into vaccination networks of diverse kinds should have been our strategy. Multiple stakeholders should have been empowered. There is no sign of any innovative ecosystem consciously created by our political leadership. The country has run out of ideas to create faster and impactful model of vaccination movement. All we have are vaccine shortage boards outside our centers and usual Indian chaos and melodrama around vaccination.
Modi sits staring at us on our vaccination certificates for the fortunate ones who are vaccinated. But Modi’s political style of functioning has yet again failed to create a sense of security in our polity and any kind of real vaccination assurance across length and breadth of India.
Bhartiya Janata Party leaders never fail to commit faux pas, especially in crisis time. While Sambit Patra is still defending the vaccine export by the government, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has come out in defense of right to life of the Corona virus, knowing little that virus is not a living organism.
What the blueprint reflects is: Covid is there today and vaccines can only come tomorrow. The government has released a blueprint of possible availability of vaccines, when what we need is vaccine itself.
---
*Associated with Socialist Party (India)

Comments

TRENDING

Junk food push causing severe public health crisis of obesity, diabetes in India: Report

By Rajiv Shah  A new report , “The Junk Push: Rising Consumption of Ultra-processed foods in India- Policy, Politics and Reality”, public health experts, consumers groups, lawyers, youth and patient groups, has called upon the Government of India to check the soaring consumption of High Fat Sugar or Salt (HFSS) foods or ultra-processed foods (UPF), popularly called junk food.

Avoidable Narmada floods: Modi birthday fete caused long wait for release of dam waters

Counterview Desk  Top advocacy group, South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), has accused the Sardar Sarovar dam operators for once again acting in an "unaccountable" manner, bringing "avoidable floods in downstream Gujarat."  In a detailed analysis, SANDRP has said that the water level at the Golden Bridge in Bharuch approached the highest flood level on September 17, 2023, but these "could have been significantly lower and much less disastrous" both for the upstream and downstream areas of the dam, if the authorities had taken action earlier based on available actionable information.

From 'Naatu-Naatu' to 'Nipah-Nipah': Dancing to the tune of western pipers?

By Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD*  Some critics have commented that the ecstatic response of most Indians to the Oscar for the racy Indian song, “Naatu-Naatu” from the film, “RRR” reeks of sheer racism, insulting visuals and a colonial hangover. It was perhaps these ingredients that impressed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, one critic says.

Astonishing? Violating its own policy, Barclays 'refinanced' Adani Group's $8 billion bonds

By Rajiv Shah  A new report released by two global NGOs, BankTrack and the Toxic Bonds Network, has claimed to have come up with “a disquieting truth”: that Barclays, a financial heavyweight with a “controversial” track record, is deeply entrenched in a “disturbing” alliance with “the Indian conglomerate and coal miner Adani Group.”

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Savarkar 'criminally betrayed' Netaji and his INA by siding with the British rulers

By Shamsul Islam* RSS-BJP rulers of India have been trying to show off as great fans of Netaji. But Indians must know what role ideological parents of today's RSS/BJP played against Netaji and Indian National Army (INA). The Hindu Mahasabha and RSS which always had prominent lawyers on their rolls made no attempt to defend the INA accused at Red Fort trials.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Asset managers hold '2.8 times more equity' in fossil fuel cos than in green investments

By Deepanwita Gita Niyogi*  The world’s largest asset managers are far off track to meet the  2050 net zero commitments , a new study  released by InfluenceMap , a London-based think tank working on climate change and sustainability, says. Released on August 1, the Asset Managers and Climate Change 2023 report by FinanceMap, a work stream of InfluenceMap, finds that the world’s largest asset managers have not improved on their climate performance in the past two years.

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Victim of 'hazardous' jobs, Delhi sanitary workers get two thirds of minimum wages

By Sanjeev Kumar*  Recently, the Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch (DASAM) organized a Training of Trainers (ToT) Workshop for sewer workers and waste pickers from all across Delhi NCR. The workshop focused on bringing sanitation workers from different parts of Delhi to train them for organization building and to discuss their issues of minimum wage, contractual labour, regular jobs and social security.