Vaccination strategy? Go figure

Transparently Opaque

Dismissing an RTI activist’s complaint, the Election Commission of India (ECI) recently held that the BJP’s electoral promise of free Covid-19 vaccination for all people in Bihar was not a violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). At the time of writing, neither the complaint nor the ECE's decision is available in the public domain, despite the RTI Act turning 16 last month.

Meanwhile, going by media reports of the ECI’s decision, other reasonable individuals may come to the opposite conclusion on similar grounds. For example, the last para of the Code for poll manifestos which the ECI apparently reiterated in its decision, clearly states: “in the interest of transparency, level playing field and credibility of promises, it is expected that manifestos also reflect the rationale for the promises and broadly indicate the ways and means to meet the financial requirements for it.”

The BJP’s poll manifesto gives no details about financing the free Covid-19 vaccination programme in Bihar. The optics of the Union Finance Minister making this announcement first, instead of a party functionary, also seems to have disappeared behind the blind spot of the ECI’s otherwise observant eye. The rival RJD’s poll promise of creating 10 lakh jobs does not meet the MCC’s test either, but nobody is complaining yet.

Be that as it may, this article is neither about political parties’ capers to retain or wrest back power or about voters making their choices on the EVMs in Bihar. It is about the existential question people living in other parts of the country asked, almost instinctively – “What about us? Do we also get the vaccine for free?” The government’s thinking on this issue is obscured by a Klingon-like cloaking device which is difficult to probe, even with RTI.

This August, the Union Ministry of Heath put out a press note about the working of a National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19, chaired by a member of NITI Aayog. Apart from the selection of vaccine candidates and available options for financing their purchase, the Expert Group is said to be deliberating upon a delivery strategy that will be equitable and transparent. Engagement with unnamed international players for early delivery of vaccines not only in India but also in other low income and developing countries is on this group’s agenda.

Yet, neither the Expert Group’s terms of reference (ToR) nor the details of its deliberations are available in the public domain, officially. Meanwhile, speculation is rife. The CEO of an institute conducting advanced human trials of a potential Covid-19 vaccine estimated a cost of Rs 80,000 crore for vaccinating everybody in the country. The Union Health Secretary was quick to refute this claim. He also announced that the government had the funds required to buy and administer the vaccine across the country. He did not say how much.

In September, this author filed an RTI application seeking details of the composition of the Vaccine Expert Group, its ToR, agenda, minutes of its meetings and inputs received about international assistance available for planning the purchase and administration of the vaccine.

After almost a month, the Immunization Section of the Health Ministry supplied some information about the Expert Group. Apart from 12 representatives of the central government, five others represent the states on a rotational basis. The ToR covers areas such as identifying vaccine candidates, providing guidance for its procurement, financing its purchase, selecting delivery platforms including cold chain and other necessary infrastructure, and most importantly -- prioritisation, i.e., deciding which population groups will be vaccinated before which others.

Inexplicably, the ministry’s Public Information Officer (PIO) claimed that the agenda and the minutes of meetings of this Expert Group including the meeting dates, the materials and presentations shared with members to enable discussions are not ‘information’ according to the RTI Act. This despite his admission that the ministry services the Expert Group.

One of these RTI queries regarding inputs received from international players was transferred to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), represented on this group by the Foreign Secretary. MEA’s PIO rejected the query on grounds of national security, friendly relations with foreign countries and also claimed that the information had been received in confidence from abroad.

This resistance of dyed-in-the-wool bureaucrats to transparency is reminiscent of another recent instance of their inept handling of Covid-19-related RTI queries. The Central Information Commission rapped the knuckles of some babus in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for feigning ignorance about the makers of the Aarogya Setu app which monitors millions of users using their own smartphones.

The government’s handling of Covid-19-related RTI queries is increasingly contradictory to the letter and spirit of the law despite several ministers’ claims of being more transparent than previous regimes. A public health emergency cannot be dealt with effectively by simply lecturing people about taking precautions or by imposing hefty fines on people already suffering due to the shrinking economy. While masks help keep the virus at bay, people must not be kept out of the working of the Vaccine Expert Group. “Nothing about us, without us” as noted disability rights activist, the late Javed Abidi used to say.

The government must recognise that citizens are not cattle passively waiting to be inoculated against a life-threatening pathogen. We are not only potential beneficiaries of the vaccination programme but also taxpayers who will foot the bill eventually. There may be many wise people inside government but the pool of wisdom outside is much larger. For a change, babus must light lamps to brighten the dark corners of governance. Volunteer more information and involve people in the development of Covid-19 mitigation strategies. This will make an ideal Deepavali gift for all.

(The writer is with the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, New Delhi)