oppn parties No Use Playing Politics Over The Vaccine Stocks

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D Gukesh is the new chess world champion at 18, the first teen to wear the crown. Capitalizes on an error by Ding Liren to snatch the crown by winning the final game g
oppn parties
No Use Playing Politics Over The Vaccine Stocks

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-04-07 15:35:03

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

Maharashtra has said that it is facing shortage of Covid vaccines and many centres are being forced to close down as they have no stocks. The Centre has repudiated the claim and has presented figures to show that the state has not even fully inoculated frontline workers. Why are we playing politics over vaccination while the virus is cocking a snook at us?

Instead of issuing unverified statements and taking an aggressive stand despite its own shortcomings, Maharashtra should come out with facts and figures regarding the doses it has received, the number of people it has inoculated and the balance stock with it. Only then can experts say whether it has stocks only for three days as it claims.

As for the Centre, instead of castigating the state government for being slow in the inoculation drive, it should assess the situation afresh as the state is having more than 50% of the fresh cases in the country. It is a special case and hence needs special attention. It needs more stocks to inoculate more people with targeted drives and special drives in the most infected regions. All help must be extended to the state.

There is some truth in the Centre’s claim that the state government is trying to divert attention from its own failures by raking up a controversy over vaccine stocks. The Maharashtra government responded very late and then very slowly to the crisis that was building up from February. It has allowed the situation to go out of hand. But that does not mean that it should be left to its own devices. The entire country must do all it can to bring normalcy in the state as if Maharashtra is at risk, the entire country is at risk too.

Leaving politics aside, the Centre must sit with the state, form a joint committee of Central and state health experts if needed, include some independent ones too for good measure, and provide a rapid action plan to control the spread. Meanwhile, a complete audit of supply and use of vaccine doses given to Maharashtra must be made and the state must be provided additional stocks on priority basis, if needed. 

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