Rahul urges PM to halt exports, vaccinate all

NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to halt vaccine exports and demanded that the vaccination drive be opened to “everyone who needs it” amid a rise in Covid-19 cases across the country.

In a letter to the PM, the Congress parliamentarian questioned if the export of Covid-19 vaccines was also an “oversight like many other decisions of this government” or was it an attempt to garner publicity “at the cost of our own citizens”.

“While our nation is facing vaccine starvation, more than 6 crore (60 million) vaccines have been imported,” Gandhi said. “The state governments are repeatedly highlighting vaccine shortages only to receive intemperate statements by the Union minister of health and family welfare targeting Opposition-ruled states, undercutting cooperative federalism which you too have stressed as essential.”

To be sure, HT reported on March 25 that the government would focus on its domestic vaccination programme and that supplies to other countries would be made only after meeting the country’s needs, but there is no stated export ban.

Several states continued to warn that they would run out of vaccines in the next few days, prompting Union health minister Harsh Vardhan to reiterate on Fritaking day that there was no shortage and the country has more than 43 million doses in stock or in the pipeline. To be sure, the problem seems to be more a result of lastmile allocation of vaccines within states, since, at the aggregate level, all of them have at least as many doses as they administer in a couple of days. On Saturday, data collated by HT showed that this number was a little under 42 million on Saturday.

Stating that India’s vaccination programme was moving at a “snail’s pace” despite having a first-mover advantage, the 50-year-old Congress leader, in a veiled reference to PM’s photo on vaccination certificates, said that the drive “has to move beyond an individual’s picture on the vaccine certificate, towards guaranteeing maximum vaccination”.

India has, so far, administered 97.87 million vaccine doses till Friday night, according to HT’s vaccine tracker. Of this, 12,295,065 people have received both doses and 73,280,915 have received one dose. On Friday, India added 144,923 new cases in a single day,

its overall tally to 13,202,777; 773 people died from Covid-10 in the past 24 hours.

In his letter, the Congress leader asked the PM to double the central allocation for vaccine procurement from the existing ₹35,000 crore and give state governments a greater say in vaccine procurement and distribution.

His suggestions came a day after Modi, during a meeting with chief ministers, said vaccines will have to be prioritised due to limited supply and lamented that some people were playing politics on the issue. “Those who have the habit of doing politics, let them do so. I have faced much criticism, but we remain committed to serving the people,” he said.

In a series of tweets, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad countered Gandhi. “After failing as a part-time politician, has Rahul Gandhi switched to full time lobbying? First he lobbied for fighter plane companies by trying to derail India’s acquisition programme. Now he is lobbying for pharma companies by asking for arbitrary approvals for foreign vaccines.”

Hitting back, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said: “Dear Sh. Prasad, Look around you, the 2nd wave of #COVID19 has hit us. We will lobby for- Direct Income Support to the vulnerable sections as partial lockdowns happen. So stop riling, frothing & steaming up. Start serving India & fellow Indians. Follow ‘Raj Dharma’.”

Rahul Gandhi