ITANAGAR, 4 Jun: The Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has written to the president of India, stating that the Centre should procure Covid-19 vaccines and supply them for free to the states and private hospitals for vaccinating the people of India.
“Also, we need to vaccinate our entire adult population of above 18 years on or before 31 December, 2021. This is the only way to save our people. For this, the only solution is to vaccinate at least one crore people a day and not the current average of 16 lakh people a day,” APCC president Nabam Tuki stated in the letter to the president.
Criticizing the Centre’s management of the pandemic, Tuki said that, while other countries started placing purchase orders for vaccines from May 2020, “the Modi government failed India. It went on to place its first order of vaccines only in January 2021.”
He said that, as per the government of India, it has administered 21.31 crore vaccine doses till 31 May, 2021.
“But only 4.45 crore Indians have received both the doses of vaccine, which is only 3.17 percent of India’s population. In the last 134 days, the average pace of vaccination is about 16 lakh vaccine doses per day. At this pace, it will take over three years for us to vaccinate our adult population. If this is the case, how will we save our fellow citizens from the third wave of Corona is the question that Modi government needs to answer,” Tuki said.
The APCC also criticized the Modi government over the fixing of multiple pricing slabs for vaccines, terming it “another instance of profiteering from people’s misery.”
“The Serum Institute’s Covishield single dose costs Rs 150 to Modi government, Rs 300 to state governments and Rs 600 to private hospitals. Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin single dose costs Rs 150 to Modi government, Rs 600 to state governments and Rs 1,200 to private hospitals. The private hospitals are even charging upto Rs 1,500 for a single dose. The full cost of two doses should be accordingly calculated. The Modi government-sponsored three price slabs for the same vaccine are a recipe for profiteering out of people’s misery,” the APCC said, and urged the president to direct the Modi government to “ensure one crore vaccination per day, as also universal free vaccination.
“This is the only way to fight Covid-19 pandemic and defeat the disease,” it said.
