JOIN USManmohan's five-point prescription to Modi to ramp up vaccination
After a stinging criticism of the Modi government’s Covid-19 response, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a five-point suggestion to ramp up the vaccination drive.
Singh’s letter came a day after the Congress Working Committee (CWC), at a meeting chaired by party chief Sonia Gandhi, described the Modi government’s Covid-19 strategy as “colossal mismanagement” and accused the Prime Minister of being busy campaigning, instead of coordinating the war against the pandemic.
“The key to our fight against Covid-19 must be ramping up the vaccination effort. We must resist the temptation to look at the absolute numbers being vaccinated, and focus instead on the percentage of the population vaccinated,” Singh said in his letter to Modi.
The former Prime Minister asked Modi to publicise firm orders for vaccines with pharma companies for the next six months and inform the states about the expected supply based on a transparent formula.
Singh asked Modi to grant flexibility to states to define the category of frontline workers for vaccination, even if they are below 45 years of age.
He also asked the prime minister to invoke the compulsory licensing provisions in the law to ensure that a maximum number of companies produce vaccines.
“At this moment of public health emergency, the Government of India must proactively support vaccine producers to expand their manufacturing facilities quickly by providing funds and other concessions,” Singh said.
He also suggested allowing vaccines cleared by credible authorities such as the European Medical Agency or USFDA for import without insisting on domestic bridging trials.
Singh said he hoped that the government would accept his suggestions immediately and act on them promptly.
The Congress Working Committee deliberated on the Covid-19 situation and had asked Singh to make suggestions to the Prime Minister on the discussions at the meeting.