Rahul Gandhi tests positive for COVID-19; Congress raises concerns over new vaccine policy

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Tuesday amid the huge surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in India. Writing on Twitter, the Wayanad MP mentioned that he was experiencing mild symptoms of the virus. Moreover, Gandhi called upon everyone who was in contact with him until recently to abide by all the COVID-19 protocols. At present, there are 20,31,977 active novel coronavirus cases in India while 1,31,08,582 patients have been discharged and 1,80,530 deaths have been reported. 

Centre modifies vaccination policy

A day earlier, the Centre relaxed the age bar for vaccination from May 1 onwards and mentioned that vaccine manufacturers can supply 50 per cent of its doses to state governments and in the open market. The private hospitals shall have to procure their supplies of the COVID-19 vaccines exclusively from this quota. The private vaccination providers shall transparently declare their self-set vaccination price.

However, they will have to follow all protocols such as being captured on the CoWIN platform and linked to AEFI reporting. At the same time, vaccination shall continue at Government of India vaccination centres for healthcare and frontline workers and those above 45 years. Additionally, the Centre stated that it will allocate vaccine doses to the states from the remaining 50% quota based on factors such as the number of active cases, speed of administration and vaccine wastage. 

While the Congress party initially welcomed this step, it subsequently claimed that the modified vaccine policy is regressive and inequitable. According to the Sonia Gandhi-led party, this was an attempt by the Centre to run away from responsibility and worsen the inequality between the states as well as between poor and rich Indians. Furthermore, it called upon the Union government to consider its concerns in a spirit of "constructive cooperation". 

Here are the Congress' concerns: 

• The Central government appears to have abdicated its responsibility towards the poor by excluding people in the 18-45 years bracket from its vaccination programme. The migrant workers who live and work in other states and are the lifeblood of the economy of our cities will be the worst affected by this directive.
• By liberalizing 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.  
• The Union government’s vaccine policy refuses to grasp that the problem is not only of production, but also of financing, procurement and distribution of the vaccines, and of coordination with the states. 
• The modified policy does not invoke the provisions in law for compulsory licensing to allow other domestic vaccine manufacturers to manufacture the approved vaccines and augment total supply. 
• While the modified policy allows for the import of foreign-made approved vaccines, there is no clarity whether any foreign manufacturer has agreed to export its vaccine and, if so, whether adequate quantities have been promised to be supplied on an agreed schedule.