Opposition slams Centre’s vaccination policy as ‘regressive’, ‘anti-equity’, ‘haphazard’ and ‘hollow’

A day after the government tweaked its COVID-19 vaccination policy to widen the coverage, the Congress Tuesday alleged the changes will worsen the inequality between states as well as between poor and rich Indians, and demanded uniform pricing for the jabs at all health facilities.

Questioning the pricing modalities under the new policy, which allows manufacturers to fix the prices of their shots, the Congress said the plan was "regressive, inequitable and anti-competitive".

The party also said the new policy would put additional burden on states which are already cash-strapped.

The Centre announced Monday that all above 18 years of age will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccination from May 1, while private hospitals and states will be able to buy doses from manufacturers.

It also said the vaccine manufacturers would be free to supply 50 percent doses to state governments and in the open market for which they will have to make an advance declaration of the price before May 1.

"This is a government that believes in one nation one tax', one nation one election', but this is a government that does not believe in ''ne nation, one price'," Congress leader Jairam Ramesh told an online press conference.

He said the new policy will lead to multiple pricing for COVID-19 shots at central and state government hospitals, and private facilities.

"Why can't we have 'one nation, one price' for vaccines. I think this is a legitimate demand," he said, advocating the Centre, state governments and private hospitals get the shots at the same price.

Ramesh alleged the Central government will get 50 per cent of the vaccines and the rest 50 per cent will be divided among private hospitals and state governments.

"This is very unfair. This is inequitable. We want states to get greater responsibility. But, this is actually not giving the states any responsibility. So 'one nation, one price'. We cannot have 'one nation, multiple prices'," he told reporters.

Chidambaram claimed the Union government has finally acknowledged the problem of vaccine shortage and other deficiencies in the current policy.

"While we welcome the positive changes made to the policy...the modified vaccine policy is, in crucial respects, regressive and inequitable," he said.

"Under the modified vaccine policy, the Union government is running away from taking responsibility, overburdens the states, encourages vaccine manufacturers to profiteer, and will worsen the inequality between states as well between poor and rich Indians," he also said.

Nowhere in the world has any government left its vaccination programme to be determined by the vagaries of market forces, the senior Congress leader noted.

Chidambaram said under the modified vaccine policy, states will bear the responsibility and cost of vaccinating the poorer sections who are below the age of 45 years and are neither healthcare workers nor frontline workers, as defined by the central government.

The former union minister alleged that the Union government appears to have abdicated its responsibility towards the poor by excluding them from the Centre's vaccination programme.

"In a country where the median age is 28 years, to leave those who are below the age of 45 years out of a public-funded programme is, to say the least, callous," he noted, adding that migrant workers who are lifeblood of the economy will be the worst affected by this directive.

Chidambaram also alleged that by liberalising the pricing of vaccine, and by not fixing a price for states at the same rate as it is available to the Union government, the government is paving the way to unhealthy price bidding and profiteering.

"States with limited resources will be at a considerable disadvantage. States that are already weighed down by shrinking GST revenues, lower tax devolution, reduced grants-in-aid and increased borrowing would have to bear this additional burden," he said, questioning where the funds collected under PM-Cares have been spent.

The CPI(M) accused the government of introducing a "discriminatory, anti-equity and haphazard policy" to deal with the coronavirus crisis and said that it was a way for the Centre to "absolve" itself of all responsibility.

"The new vaccine policy announced yesterday is once again an effort by the central government to absolve itself from the colossal health crisis that they have created. There is an effort to shift the entire responsibility on to the state governments.

"This policy is essentially an effort to liberalise vaccine sales and deregulate prices, without augmenting supply. The centre has failed for a year to do anything to ramp up adequate and needed vaccine supplies. This is a recipe for exclusion of crores of people who will find it unaffordable to procure the life-saving vaccine," the party said in a statement.

The party also said that the vaccines were so far free of cost to the states. Now, states have to 'procure' them from the 'open market' without any price regulation, it alleged.

"The vaccine providers according to this latest policy will declare their 'self-set vaccine price'. This again, is bound to exclude an overwhelming majority of our people. The state governments should be funded for the vaccines from the central exchequer. Further, this policy is bound to breed large-scale black marketeering and hoarding.

"A mass vaccination programme has to be free and universal. This has been independent India's heritage and practice. The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns this discriminatory, anti-equity and haphazard policy making of the Centre aimed at absolving itself from all responsibility," it said.

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, hitting out at the Centre's new vaccine policy and terming it "hollow, without substance and a regrettable show" of evasion of responsibility.

"I am informed that the central government has announced the much-delayed universal vaccine policy on 19th April, 2021, which appears to be hollow, without substance and a regrettable show of evasion of responsibility by the central government at a time of crisis," Banerjee said in the letter.

She also reminded the prime minister that she had in a letter dated February 24, 2021 requested his intervention to allow West Bengal purchase vaccines directly with state resources and give free vaccination to people of the state.

"No response was received from your end. Now when the number of cases in the second wave of COVID is spiralling like anything, the Centre has chosen to tactically indulge in empty rhetoric and shy away from its responsibility for making available vaccines to the people of the country," Banerjee wrote.

She pointed out that the announcement made on Monday did not address major issues like ensuring quality, efficacy, stable flow of supply of required number of doses by the manufacturers and also the price at which the vaccines are to be purchased by the states.

"It is apprehended that the announced policy might lead to unscrupulous mechanisms in the market, including pricing of vaccines as it appears to be based on market prices which may put the common people under huge financial burden.

"More importantly, the supply would also become very erratic because the vaccine manufacturers are hardly prepared to scale up their production capacities to the desired levels to meet the nationwide demand," the West Bengal chief minister said.

She added that the required vaccines are not currently available in the market and requested for steps to ensure their availability at the earliest.

"In sum, I would earnestly request you to kindly ensure a fair, transparent and credible vaccination policy addressing all the issues outlined above, which would enable the people of the country to get vaccines urgently at affordable prices as per current scale as applicable," Banerjee said.

India's total tally of COVID-19 cases climbed to 1,53,21,089 with 2,59,170 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, while active cases surpassed the 20-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

The death toll increased to 1,80,530 with a record 1,761 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

Registering a steady increase for the 41st day in a row, the active cases increased to 20,31,977, comprising 13.26 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has dropped to 85.56 per cent.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,31,08,582, while the case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.18 per cent, the data stated.

With PTI inputs