A political turmoil at the time of a crisis like Covid-19 the second wave is something that no one needs. Our Nation has to stand together in the hour of crisis and especially the political parties.
Political turmoil over different rates of vaccines
The opposition has been targeting the Centre for almost everything trying to disrupt a lot of policies and now over Covid vaccine pricing. There has been a huge outcry by the opposition about different prices for the Vaccine.
Congress party members have been demanding one formula ‘one nation one price’ of the Vaccine.
The Serum Institute of India announced the prices of Covishield for State Government and Private Hospitals.
State Government price: Rs. 400 per dose and the price for Private Hospitals is Rs. 600 per dose.
Sonia Gandhi’s letter to PM Modi Ji
Slamming the central government about having 3 different prices for Covishiled which is of the same company. She urged Modi Ji for providing free vaccines to all eligible citizens as it is the Centres duty and also to make the vaccine available for people who are 18 and above.
Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee criticized PM Modi Ji regarding the Covid-19 second wave also demanding for ‘One nation one price’ for vaccines. She went on to say ‘one nation, one party and one leader shouts BJP all the time but to save lives they can’t have one price for every Indian. Mamata Banerjee wrote to PM Modi Ji on Thursday: “States will buy vaccines for the poor and the young, hence your policy is both anti-poor and anti-youth. Such peculiar differentiation of rates is also unheard of in Indian history. Never price has any state in India been asked to buy vaccines in any mass immunisation drive, let alone at such high rates.’’
A senior Minister and son of Chief Minister KC Rao, Telangana, KT Rama Rao tweeted ‘’ We agreed to One nation and one tax but now we are seeing one nation and two different vaccine prices? Can’t the government subsume additional cost from the PM Cares fund and help with rapid vaccination across India?’’
DMK Leader MK Stalin said ‘’the differential pricing is discriminatory and does not achieve the purpose of Universal Vaccination and urged that states must also receive funding from the centre as per their needs.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel wrote to PM Modi Ji, seeking information on availability and cost of vaccines to be provided for the third-wave also stating that the vaccine price should be uniform for both state and centre government.
Instead of discussing and finding a solution to the prices of vaccines the opposition is trying to create disruptions in the process.
Poonawalla while clarifying the different rates said that the earlier contract which was for Rs. 150 per dose was fixed without knowing if the vaccine will work or not and was a risky price that was agreed for a limited amount of vaccine doses. After the effectiveness of vaccines, the prices were increased under-price government norms and policies.
From 1st May 2021, everyone above 18 years would be eligible to get the vaccine. Few states like Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have made the vaccines free for those above 18.
How vaccinations helped India getting less sick
From December 29th to March 12th India maintained a weekly average of about 20k cases.
The first wave Covid-19 had affected mostly elderly people who were above the age of 45. The vaccine rolls out was on target to vaccinate about 35 to 37 Cr individuals above 45. India had developed 2 vaccines AstraZeneca from Serum Institute and our indigenous vaccine from Bharat Biotech, manufactured enough stock on monthly basis said Dr Randeep Guleria, Director at AIIMS.
The most vulnerable category was vaccinated at the right time which helped curb cases in India.
Not only in India but outside of India there has been a huge growing demand for Indian Vaccines. Several counties like Sri Lanka, Brazil, and Mauritius thanked India for sending them the doses of vaccines.
It is observed that mostly Non-BJP rules states are questioning the centre about the different rates of the vaccine doses.
[author title=”Shefali Kochhar,” image=”http://goachronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Screenshot_20210321-160233_LinkedIn.jpg”]Intern, Goa Chronicle . I am an entrepreneur who has tried her hands on various ventures like Electric Vehicle Charging Station , Online Retail Store / Trading and few more ventures. I have done my entrepreneurship from Amity University Noida.[/author]
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