May 17, 2021
By Prabir PURKAYASTHA
While the incompetence of the Indian government is starkly visible in its handling of the second wave of the COVID-19 crisis, its performance has been far worse on the vaccine front. The BJP-led government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which seems to believe in the ideology of free-market capitalism, thinks that the market will magically produce the number of vaccines the country needs. This would explain why it has starved seven public sector vaccine manufacturing units according to an April 17 article in Down to Earth of any support instead of ramping up much-needed vaccine production.
The rights to produce the public sector vaccine, Covaxin, which has been developed by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and National Institute of Virology (NIV), in collaboration with Bharat Biotech, have been given to the private company partner on an exclusive basis. The Indian government also believed that Serum Institute of India, another p
Comments
Amid the Centre facing severe criticism over the shortage of vaccines and healthcare infrastructure to mitigate the pandemic, Niti Ayog’s VK Paul said that India will manufacture 216 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines between August and December in a bid to vaccinate all citizens by December 2021.
Paul on Thursday said that “there should be no doubt that vaccine will be available for all as we move forward.”
While the goal of 216 crore vaccines being produced in India, other than the number of vaccines that India plans to import, seems optimistic, it is also extremely difficult to achieve in several ways if the manufacturing capacity of several companies and India’s overall production capacity is taken into consideration in detail.
India News: NEW DELHI: Training in rural areas, good infection control practices in hospitals and prevention of fungal infections are the three areas of focus of .
How Bill Gates Set the Stage for Modi’s Disastrous Response to COVID-19 in India Bill Gates, Co-Chair the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation shows a vaccine during the press conference. (Image by UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferre)
India’s incompetent, vainglorious leadership, combined with the right-wing belief in magical capitalism, has led to the disaster that the country is now facing.
By Prabir Purkayastha
While the incompetence of the Indian government is starkly visible in its handling of the second wave of the COVID-19 crisis, its performance has been far worse on the vaccine front. The BJP-led government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which seems to believe in the ideology of free-market capitalism, thinks that the market will magically produce the number of vaccines the country needs. This would explain why it has starved seven public sector vaccine manufacturing units according to an A
Dozens of corpses found floating in Ganges as India’s humanitarian crisis deepens
Shocking pictures showing dozens of corpses floating in the Ganges River, published by the Indian media Monday evening, provide yet further evidence of the mounting humanitarian crisis the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered in the world’s second most populous country.
India, which has emerged over the past month as the global epicenter of the pandemic, passed the grim milestone of a quarter-million officially registered deaths this week. On Thursday, it added another 4,120 COVID-19 deaths, taking the death toll to 258,317.
People watch burning funeral pyres of their relatives who died of COVID-19 in a ground that has been converted into a crematorium in New Delhi, India, Thursday, May 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Ishant Chauhan)