The second wave of the coronavirus pandemic is on a rampage as India crossed the two lakh cases a day barrier on Wednesday and with no signs of the virus abetting, the future looks increasingly bleak. However, as usual, the detractors have come out in numbers to solely fix the responsibility on the Centre and especially its ‘Vaccine Maitri’ initiative as the core reason for the rise in cases, while simultaneously overlooking the massive wastage of vaccines by numerous states.
Digging around a little, one can find that India’s fight against the Chinese pandemic has slowed down or perhaps taken a hit due to the lackadaisical attitude of states, who simply could not utilise one whole year to foresee an inevitable second wave, and prepare their infrastructure accordingly.
As per the central government data, the states and union territories with the highest number of Covid-19 cases, as of 8 am on Thursday during India’s “second wave” are majorly from the six states, viz. Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi. As a direct result of increasing cases in these states, the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further dropped to 88.92 per cent and the case fatality rate has dipped to 1.24 per cent.
Then comes the incompetence of the states in reducing vaccine wastage. According to a Hindustan report, taking a rough gander at the numbers, one can infer that the maximum amount of vaccine is being wasted in the state of Tamil Nadu. More than 11 per cent of the vaccine supplied by the Central government is ending up in the trashcan in the southern state.
TN is followed by Haryana, where 10.5 per cent of the vaccines are being wasted, all the while the central government is appealing to the states to stop the vaccine wastage. Apart from this, 8.4 per cent of the vaccines are being wasted in Manipur, 7.88 per cent in Punjab, 7.33 per cent in Bihar and 6.62 per cent in Assam. Talking about Ashok Gehlot’s Rajasthan, 6.32 per cent of the vaccine supplied is being wasted here and 5.27 per cent in Uttar Pradesh.
In Chhattisgarh, the Congress government has allegedly begun extorting the families of Covid-victims and demanding 2,500 rupees for storage and carriage of dead bodies. Despite months of gap between the first wave and second wave of the pandemic, the Baghel government allegedly did not invest in ramping up the medical infrastructure of the state.
Now the cases are exploding and the Chhattisgarh government does not have the medical capacity to provide treatment to patients. So many people are dying that bodies have piled up in the hospitals and the crematoriums are running full.
Some states have blamed the centre for exporting the vaccines to other countries and used it as an excuse to hide their shambolic management. In less than two months since vaccine diplomacy began, the Modi government has reportedly distributed nearly 66 million doses of vaccines to 91 countries. Vaccine Maitri is being seen as part of India’s soft power diplomacy, which has the potential to give New Delhi a coveted strategic space in the emerging world order.
Moreover, there are certain diplomatic obligations that India cannot bow out of and two months back India was faring well in reducing the caseload when India opened its vaccine to the world. The states had more than enough time to engage in the tried and tested three-fold strategy of tracking, testing and treating. Thus blaming the Centre for the ‘Vaccine Maitri’ initiative seems to be purely nonsensical.
The Centre is slowly ramping up the vaccine production levels but the states have to get their basics right to beat the pandemic, which, unfortunately, they haven’t been able to do so far.
Present modality of Vaccine Maitri is non-sense. Banks and many government and public sector organisations are covered under ESMA. GoI should have ensured vaccination of frontline workers and other workers falling under ESMA through institutional vaccination, irrespective of age. This should have been completed by Jan’21 itself. Then GoI should have started vaccinating everyone who is in the earning age bracket of 30-60 years on whom their families are dependant. Instead we have started vaccinating 60+ who have lived their prime lives. All public gatherings, function halls, theatres, gyms and other not so essential places should have been stopped right from 1st week of Mar’21 itself, when there was a steady rise in cases established. 6pm to 6am curfews should have been in place right from rise in cases were observed. Except for vegetables and fruits, all other street vendors should have been stopped. All these would have reduced crowds in public spaces. Then seeing the results of such actions, GoI should have extended support to other nations. Atleast after completing all rounds of vaccination of frontline and ESMA covered work force, GoI should have started distributing vaccines to other nations.