By Gyan Pathak
One cannot reconcile with two opposite reports – one coming from both BJP and non-BJP ruled states about closures of and rationing in many inoculation centres due to insufficient supply of vaccines in time, and the other from the Centre as a claim of having no shortage of the same. In between the contradiction one needs to know what exactly is happening in the country, because the vaccine is the only hope, in successfully combating the corona wave which is at its worst now.
All statements are wrong that are made to veil the real problem arising out of lack of production, procurement, and supply. These three are actually the root cause of rationing and regulated supply of the vaccines in name of prioritization Modi government is boasting about. Prioritization is but only an ad-hoc arrangement when there is ‘limited supply’ of something, but can never be a real solution which lies only in ‘sufficient supply’. The centre is clearly not doing their best for ‘sufficient supply’ of vaccines and therefore not justified. The true reason is best known to them.
When Covishield of SII, and Covaxin of Bharat Biotech were given ‘emergency use approval’ by the government of India in the first week of January 2021, and the vaccination drive was launched on January 16 afterwards, the people of India became hopeful of winning the corona battle soon. However, the hopes were frustrated soon. The number of doses required to vaccinate its all citizen were not available, and hence the government decided an ‘eligibility’ criterion while boasting at the same time that their plan of vaccination was at par or better than many other developed countries of the world. It was mischievous and factually wrong.
For example by the beginning of April, United Kingdom had already administered at least one dose to nearly 50 per cent of their population, while India could vaccinate only 3 per cent of its people. The example of United Kingdom would be most suitable to compare, because the oxford is in their country which has signed an agreement with the SII of India to produce the vaccines which is called AstraZeneca in their country.
It may be mentioned that the vaccine from SII does not carry a tag such as ‘trial mode’ as the Covaxin does. It is therefore obvious that SII’s vaccine is most sought after in India and elsewhere in the world. Dr V K Paul of NITI Aayog has said the SII manufactures about 60 million doses per month at the end of March. Bharat Biotech’s production capacity is only 150 million a year. Modi government has asked both the companies to enhance production. However, every company has its own physical and financial capacity of production and supply, and no one can do that beyond their capacity.
SII chief has recently said in an interview that their company can double production if they would be supported financially by the government of India. A government of India official has said that government is making payment in advance that they can use for enhancing capacity. This shows the attitude of the government of India in favour of nationalism or its people who need the vaccine immediately. The whole attitude is clearly not enhancing the level of production, procurement, and supply of the vaccines but adversely affecting the availability of vaccines. Bharat Biotech also is not in a position to enhance their capacity on their own. Both the companies need more support from the government.
Nevertheless, Modi government needs to defend its decisions and hence harping on ‘prioritization’. Here a passing remark would serve our purpose to understand what type of prioritization the government is doing. The spread of the second wave and mortality is worst in Maharashtra, and therefore they have demanded relaxation in eligibility and increased supply of vaccines. The centre has said that they cannot meet their demand because they need to prioritize the doses which they need to send in other states. The data shows the Gujarat, PM’s home state and his party BJP ruled too, got proportionately very high quantity of vaccines. Such type of prioritization is inexplicable.
Now come to the availability of vaccines. By August, as Dr VK Paul has said, SII would be in a position to supply 470 million and Bharat Biotech 120-130 million doses. Given the population of around 139 crore, it is too meagre a supply. All the claims and statements of the Modi government must be seen in this backdrop however boastful they may be, such as on ‘vaccine nationalism’ or on ‘vaccine diplomacy’. India is compelled to export vaccines produced by the SII due to various reasons, including the agreement between the Oxford and the SII.
It must be noted that the vaccines produced in the SII, is not only for India, but for several countries of the world which also included 92 poorest countries of the world. The term is binding on SII according to the agreement. India cannot treat the vaccine produced here as sovereign property of India, but Modi government is behaving as such. India needs more politeness, more civil language while dealing with vaccine production, procurement, and supply. India needs the vaccines urgently and also many other countries for which WHO needs supplies. The best solution in this situation would to invest more in its production and supply, and the modality should be decided as soon as possible because the world is not in a position to wait for unlimited time.
One year ago, researchers at Oxford University had developed the vaccine which is being produced in SII under an agreement that the company would produce vaccines for all poor countries under the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI). They are 92 in numbers having nearly 4 billion population, over half of the world. If we go by population India’s share would have been only 35 per cent of the total production. At present level of production it is very small quantity, and the government has also allowed exports of this vaccines. Opposition has been criticizing the government that exports are being allowed by the government ignoring its own citizen’s need. However, the situation is more complex that it seems from outside. Several countries, including UK, Canada, Brazil etc have alleged that India is hindering the exports of vaccines and keeping more dozes to themselves than its share. It is a part of international politics on vaccines.
Why cannot we considerably increase the production of the vaccine which is required everywhere in the world including India? It may again be politics and the politics of the market forces, who are not really interested in ‘sufficient supply’, but in ‘limited supply’. It has also been reported that there are many other vaccine candidates in the world. One wonders why the other vaccines are not being allowed in the vaccine arsenal of India, or why other manufacturers are not allowed to produce the vaccines if one or two companies cannot produce them is sufficient quantity?
Modi government needs to rethink about its present strategy and facilitate production, procurement, and supply of the vaccines as per the domestic and also exports requirement. One suspects if keeping ‘limited supply’ is part of profiteering! We cannot rule out the alleged ‘conspiracy’ theory in this regard. Open the door for other vaccines and manufacturers for expansion of capacities to remove the suspicious and the mitigation of the present complexities. (IPA Service)
