Critical analysis of the Government policy on vaccine
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| BBC |
Following two are the paragraphs of the
AFFIDAVIT DATED 09.05.2021 ON BEHALF OF THE UNION OF INDIA to the supreme
court.
Paragraph 30 - “Bharat Biotech Intl
Ltd. Has increased production from 90 lakhs/ month to 2 crore doses/ month and
further increase is expected up to 5.5 crore doses/month by July 2021”
Paragraph 35 - “It is expected that the
current manufacturing of Covaxin of 10 million doses/ month will be enhanced to
nearly 100 million doses/ month in the next 8-10 months.”
Here I would like to point out two
things to readers. The first is, 10million means 1 crore. Secondly Bharat
Biotech (BB) manufactures Covaxin. So, basically, the government has said two
different things in two paragraphs.
Furthermore, VK Paul the chief of the
covid task force on the vaccine projected to procure 55 crore doses of the
covaxin by December 2021. Now let me analyze this number game.
Let goes with the government numbers.
In the best possible scenario, Bharat biotech may/will produce 2 crore doses
per month for the months of March, April, May, June, and July (Total 10 Cr.).
BB will produce the 6 Crore does per month for August, September, October, and
November (Total 24 Crore). So, in total, BB can deliver 34 (10+24) crore doses
by end of the November while the VK paul made a projection of the 55 crore
doses. Yes, there is talk to produce covaxin in some PSUs but it is very
unlikely that they can produce 21 crore doses (55-34) in such short span of the
3-4 months.
In this same affidavit, the Government
of India submitted to the supreme court that
Para 9 – “to make all possible efforts in procuring vaccines from other
countries. It may be kept in mind these efforts of procurement from other
countries have their own challenges as unlike other vaccines in the past,
every country of the world needs vaccines for its domestic use at this
juncture.”
Para 27.6 - "With regard to point (vi), at present, the availability of vaccines for the next 6 months would be difficult to project as it depends upon the successful augmentation in the existing manufacturing the capacity of two vaccine manufacturers, the procurement of other vaccines from other countries and its quantity, etc....."
Here it is clear that on the 9th of May, the Government was reluctant to project the future scenario of the 6 months regarding the availability of vaccines. But just after 5 days, VK Paul addressed the press and presented a rosy picture of the procurement where he claimed that there will be the availability of the 216 crore doses by December 2021. I would like to know that what is changed in these 5 days?
On
16th March, Government said this in
the answer to a question in Rajyasabha that the "Government has advised
all States and UTs to not enter into an independent agreement with COVID-19
vaccine manufacturers for procurement of vaccines"
On
9th May, the Government changed the
stand and Submitted this in the supreme court "It is submitted that
though, under the new vaccine strategy, it is for each
State Government to procure the vaccines as
stated above......."
From this, it is clear that the central
have to take a U-turn about the roles of the state in the vaccination. Now it
is well-known fact that many states issue the global tender of the procurement
of the vaccines. Better would be the original policy of the government of the
centralized procurement.
Question 906 asked by Anil Deshmukh in
Rajyasabha -” Whether it is a fact that Government has successfully developed
two vaccines for COVID-19 and also started a mammoth vaccination drive across
the country.
Answer – “Two vaccines namely
Covishield manufactured by M/s Serum Institute of India and Covaxin
manufactured by M/s Bharat Biotech International Limited have been granted
permission for restricted use in an emergency situation by the National
Regulator I.e. Drug Controller General of India [DCG(I)]”
If you observed closely, you may note
that MP asked about the “Development of vaccine” while Minister replied about
“Manufacturing of the vaccine”. I do not like to speculate about the intention
of the minister for doing so, But I just like to tell the reader the fact
that Covishiled is “developed” by the Oxford-AstraZeneca and “Manufacture” by
the Serum Institute of India.
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