Skip to main content

Free vaccine for vote: 'Misleading' Modi talk ahead of Gujarat, Himachal polls

By Rosamma Thomas* 

Over a year ago, in October 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that his government had achieved the milestone of 100 crore vaccination doses, and the vaccination campaign against Covid-19 was free. Speaking at an election rally in Himachal Pradesh, BJP president JP Nadda called on voters to thank PM Modi for the vaccines by voting the party back to power in the state.
Earlier, the prime minister had instructed the BJP to set up helpdesks at vaccination centres. The Cowin website of the government that tracks vaccination doses administered lists over 219 crore doses as of November 6, 2022.
While the government takes pride in its vaccination achievement, it is worth recalling that the Supreme Court had intervened last year to question the initially proposed pricing policy for the vaccination campaign, forcing the government to change its stance. Also in Union Budget 2021, Rs35,000 crore was allocated for vaccination.
Transparency in governance campaigner Commodore Lokesh Batra, in a Right to Information petition in December 2021, sought details of the total amount paid to vaccine manufacturers. Government of India enterprise HLL Lifecare Limited, in its response of January 25, 2022, showed that a total of Rs 26,936 had been paid to vaccine manufacturers until then.
“How can the government claim that it has conducted a successful and free vaccination campaign when this is taxpayers’ money?” wondered Commodore Batra. Besides, private operators had been providing vaccine on payment.
In India’s private hospitals, the cost of the vaccination doses was also the highest in the world. In response to an RTI petition from Commodore Batra, the government also admitted that it had no record of the number of doses administered in private hospitals.
There were also reports that orders for vaccination doses were not placed with manufacturers in time, stalling the process. “Poor planning, piecemeal procuring and unregulated pricing,” BBC reported, had caused India’s vaccination drive to stumble.
What is astounding is that while the government had planned for dealing with those who might be hesitant to get the vaccine, there was no plan in place for reporting of adverse reactions after receiving the vaccination. In May 2022, Supreme Court intervened to direct the government to set up a system for online reporting of adverse events.
How can the government claim it has conducted successful and free vaccination campaign when this is taxpayers’ money?
By November 2022, news website Scroll reported that over 1,000 deaths were reported after vaccination in India. There is also cause to suspect that the number of adverse events and deaths is grossly underestimated – while Kerala reported 490 adverse events and 242 deaths, Uttar Pradesh, which has administered six times more doses of the vaccine, showed only 159 adverse events and 85 deaths.
In April 2022, Denmark became the first country in the world to halt its Covid-19 vaccination programme. Calls for an immediate halt to vaccination were earlier made in India too, where activists noted that the vaccine was causing more harm than the virus.
Vaccines were being administered to pregnant women too, although a Right to Information application seeking the results of such tests showed that the government had not conducted any trials on pregnant women. There was no scientific evidence that the vaccines were safe for pregnant women, and no information at all on how the fetus might be impacted.
Across the world, as the data emerges on the Covid vaccination drive, questions are being raised about the need for a vaccine at all – given that the threat from the virus was initially grossly exaggerated, through computer modeling procedures that were off the mark by leagues. Early warnings were suppressed or ignored in many countries.
Ordinary Indians, however, are waking to the problems with the vaccine. The demand for vaccination has nosedived and stocks are being allowed to expire. So is Prime Minister Modi singing the wrong tune ahead of polling in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh?
---
*Freelance journalist. Click here for RTI response

Comments

TRENDING

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.

Biden urged to warn Modi: US can declare India as worst religious freedom offender

By Our Representative  During a Congressional Briefing held on Capitol Hill, Washington DC, Nadine Maenza, former Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), has wondered why the Biden administration should raise issues of mass anti-minority mob violence  -- particularly in Haryana and Manipur -- with Modi. Modi should be told that if such violence continues, the US will be “compelled by law” to designate India as one of the world’s worst offenders of religious freedom, she urged.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

Evading primary responsibility, ONGC decides to invest Rs 15,000 crore in sick subsidiary

By NS Venkataraman*  It is reported that Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will infuse about Rs 15,000 crore in ONGC Petro-additions Ltd (OPaL) as part of a financial restructuring exercise. ONGC currently holds 49.36 per cent stake in (OPaL), which operates a mega petrochemical plant at Dahej in Gujarat. GAIL (India) Ltd has 49.21 per cent interest and Gujarat State Petrochemical Corporation (GSPC) has the remaining 1.43 per cent.

'State-sanctioned terror': Stop drone attack on Adivasis, urge over 80 world academics

Counterview Desk  A joint statement, “Indigenous Peoples’ Un-Freedoms and Our Academic Freedom: A Call for Solidarity”, endorsed by over 80 signatories, including international academics, activists and civil society organizations, as well as diasporic Indian academics and researchers, working with Adivasi (indigenous) communities in India, has made an urgent appeal to prevent future drone bomb attacks by the Indian state on Adivasi villages.

Sales, profits of Indian firms 'deteriorate', yet no significant increase in cost pressures

By Our Representative  The Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad's (IIM-A's) latest Business Inflation Expectations Survey (BIES), a monthly exercise, has said that while cost perceptions data does not indicate significant increase of cost pressures, sales and profits of the Indian firms have deteriorated.