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Dr Singh Offers Good Advice To The Government

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-04-19 10:25:40

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

Given the vaccine shortage which threatens to derail the ambitious vaccination drive in India, former prime minister and Congress leader Dr Manmohan Singh's letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue contains eminently good advice which the government will do well to follow.

Dr Singh has in the main asked the government to invoke compulsory licensing provisions to ensure that a number of companies can manufacture the Covid vaccines to tide over shortage. Dr Singh has cited the example of Israel which has already done so. When a disease threatens humanity, the vaccine developed to combat it should be manufactured under compulsory licensing so that it is available in enough quantities. Although in his interaction with officers some days ago, Prime Minister Modi had said that the entire capacity in the country must be used to produce the vaccines, he did not talk about invoking compulsory licensing. Once invoked, compulsory licensing will make for widespread production and make the vaccines available in good enough quantities. Hence, the government should work on this.

Further, Dr Singh also called for a transparent policy on vaccines that publicizes stocks and their distribution patterns to allow states to plan their vaccination drive. He also called for allowing states to decide about the beneficiaries. Dr Singh also called upon the government to support vaccine manufacturers with funds and other concessions. As for imports of vaccines (which have already been allowed by the Centre) Dr Singh was of the opinion that bridging trials must be done away with as these vaccines are approved in other countries.

While Dr Singh made these suggestions in the spirit of "constructive cooperation" and most of them are well thought out and good, one does not agree with his suggestion of letting the states decide upon the beneficiaries. There has to be a national policy on this for the simple reason that all states must act equally. Some states cannot be allowed to inoculate people below 45 years of age if others are not doing so for it will amount to discrimination. When vaccines are available in good quantities, the Centre must keep lowering the threshold age every few weeks to cover as many citizens as possible in the shortest possible time. 

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