Congress leaders meet Governor; seek free, universal vaccination

A Congress delegation, headed by the APCC president S. Sailajanath, on Friday met Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan and urged him to impress upon the Narendra Modi authorities on the Centre for implementation of a universal vaccination programme freed from value.

In a memorandum submitted to Mr. Harichandan, the Congress stated a universal immunisation drive was the one option to battle COVID-19 pandemic and defeat the virus.

Mr. Sailajanath stated even because the pandemic induced unprecedented devastation, inflicting immeasurable ache to a big inhabitants of the nation, the “Modi government abdicated its responsibility and abandoned the hapless people to fend for themselves in this hour of crisis”.

Finding fault with the Centre’s “vaccination plan”, he stated the Government was reprehensibly oblivious to “’procurement of vaccines and deliberately created a digital divide, thereby slowing down the inoculation drive”.

Mr. Sailajanath stated final yr in May, when different nations had been putting orders for vaccine buy, the Modi authorities failed India miserably, because it positioned the primary order for vaccines solely in January this yr.

The Congress chief stated opposite to the Centre’s declare that 21.31 crore vaccine doses had been administered until May 31 this yr, solely 4.45 crore folks within the nation had obtained each the doses, which was solely 3.17% of the nation’s inhabitants. In the final 134 days, the common tempo of vaccination had been round 16 lakh vaccine doses per day. He stated at this charge, it could take over three years to vaccinate the grownup inhabitants.

He stated the Prime Minister owed a proof to the folks of this nation on how his authorities deliberate to battle the approaching third wave of the pandemic.

Pointing to the a number of pricing slab for the vaccine, he stated it was one other occasion of the Modi authorities profiteering from folks’s distress. The Serum Institute’s single dose of Covishield prices ₹150 to the federal government, ₹300 to the State governments and ₹600 to non-public hospitals. Similarly the price of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin single dose was ₹150 for Modi Government, ₹600 to the State governments and ₹1,200 to non-public hospitals. Some personal hospitals even charged ₹1,500 for a single dose, he alleged.

He stated the Centre ought to procure enough shares of vaccine and provide at no cost to the States and all the grownup inhabitants of above 18 years ought to be inoculated by December 2021.