Centre’s COVID-19 vaccine strategy ‘abject failure’: Priyanka Gandhi
Slamming the federal government’s alleged lack of preparedness to take care of the COVID-19 second wave and terming its vaccine strategy “abject failure”, Congress chief Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday stated the BJP-led Centre can not shift the blame as Jawaharlal Nehru is not in-charge, Narendra Modi is and he ought to defend Indians.
In an unique interview with PTI, the Congress basic secretary stated constructive solutions from opposition events are being dismissed as politicisation moderately than being accepted within the spirit that the nation is in disaster, each single life issues and, subsequently, “all of us must stand together and do whatever we can to save lives regardless of our politics”.
“They (government) are wasting time engaging in pettiness, making a minister respond to a letter addressed by a former prime minister who served this nation selflessly and with dignity to the present Prime Minister, Union Ministers are blaming state governments for increased oxygen consumption and central government press releases are targeting Opposition governments,” she stated.
Priyanka Gandhi’s remarks come two days after Health Minister Harsh Vardhan responded to former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s letter with solutions on COVID-19 administration, and alleged that the second wave of the pandemic was fuelled by Congress-ruled states as they have been busy elevating doubts about vaccines moderately than vaccinating individuals.
Talking concerning the Congress’ long-standing demand for universalization of COVID-19 vaccination and the federal government’s inoculation strategy, Priyanka Gandhi slammed the federal government for exporting vaccine doses for a “PR exercise”. Thanks to 70 years of forward-thinking governance, in the present day India is the most important producer of vaccines on this planet, she stated.
“The Union government enabled the export of six crore vaccines between January and March 2021. A huge PR exercise was conducted with photos of vaccines arriving in countries like Mauritius, Guyana and Nepal being circulated. During this same period, Indian citizens received only three to four crore doses,” she stated.
“Why didn’t the government prioritise Indians first. Why did the prime minister place self-promotion above the nation? In a state like UP with a 22 crore population, only 1 crore doses have been administered,” the Congress basic secretary in-charge Uttar Pradesh stated.
Foreign businesses bought vaccines from Indian vaccine producers a lot earlier than the Indian authorities positioned an order and several other massive nations positioned advance orders for vaccines twice the dimensions of their inhabitants, she stated, including that India positioned its first order solely in January 2021.
The Modi authorities’s lack of foresight has compelled India to turn out to be an importer of vaccines in the present day and even now, their “vaccine strategy is flawed and discriminatory”, Priyanka Gandhi stated.
“Why are free vaccines not being made available to 18-45 year olds? The new variants are supposedly even more virulent and many young people are affected. And why is the government allowing middlemen into the equation without price controls?” she stated.
This just isn’t a coherent strategy, it’s an “abject failure”, Priyanka Gandhi stated.
Asked about Union minister Piyush Goyal’s assertion that states should hold oxygen demand below management, she stated Goyal’s “heartless comment” exhibits the “brutal coldness” on the coronary heart of this administration.
“They see precious human life in terms of demand and supply. But then what can one expect from a government led by a prime minister who is continuing to hold public rallies and laughing on stage while lakhs of people are crying for help, the healthcare system is reeling under a massive pandemic and lakhs of Indians are fighting for their lives,” she stated.
On the scarcity of medical grade oxygen and significant medicines like Remdisivir, she stated that because of the very governments that Prime Minister Modi holds liable for each in poor health within the nation, India’s capability as one of many world’s largest producers of oxygen was constructed over many years.
India produces 7,500 Metric Tonnes of oxygen per day, on the peak of the final wave the cumulative use of oxygen in hospitals throughout the nation was lower than half this amount per day, she identified.
“We produce enough oxygen, the government has simply not created the adequate logistics to supply it across India. It had the entire period between the first and the second wave to do this. It did nothing,” she alleged.
India has exported about 9,300 Metric Tonnes of Oxygen within the final 12 months, Priyanka Gandhi stated and requested who’s liable for the deaths resulting from lack of oxygen. India has exported 1.1 million injections of Remdesivir within the final six months and since December manufacturing of essential drugs was decreased, she stated.
“Export has been stopped only five days back, Why? Who can they shift the blame onto? Jawaharlal Nehru isn’t in charge, Narendra Modi is. He should step up to the plate. He is the Prime Minister. It is incumbent on him to protect Indians, to give them a sense of safety and to fight this battle from the front,” Priyanka Gandhi stated.
She asserted that the Congress is agency in its dedication in the direction of the individuals of India to stay constructive and supportive throughout this disaster.
“We have not and will not politicise this unprecedented human tragedy under any circumstances. We will, however, continue to push the government to act, we will continue to raise issues that need to be addressed urgently to save lives, they can label us in whichever terms they like,” she asserted.
“We fully understand our responsibility towards our country. Manmohan Singh ji, the Congress President (Sonia Gandhi) and Rahul ji have all offered our party’s constructive cooperation to the prime minister time and again,” Priyanka Gandhi added.
India has been repeatedly registering over 2 lakh COVID-19 circumstances day by day.
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