Finally, the Centre seems to be waking up from its deep slumber and has sent External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to the USA for shopping for vaccines produced by manufacturers in the USA. Despite its bravado, procrastination has been the hallmark of the Centre’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Buying vaccines from the US market suffers from the same malady. Two of the major US manufacturers – Pfizer and Moderna – have already made it known that their orders are full and they won’t be able to supply vaccines to new clients any time soon.
Obviously, it’s a gross failure on the part of the Central government, which apparently did nothing while the pandemic has been raging, when so many countries, including the USA, European Union, Japan, South Korea and Australia, had placed orders for millions of doses with the American companies when the pandemic broke out in 2020 itself.
Now, when the second wave has engulfed the whole of India with a daily caseload ranging from 200,000 to 400,000 and the country is plagued by inconceivable shortage of vaccines, Jaishankar landed in the USA on 24 May to procure vaccines from American companies and explore the possibility of their joint production. He is slated to hold discussions with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken besides meeting senior officials of the Biden administration during his five-day visit. The MEA has told the media that Jaishankar will have “interactions” with business forums on economic and Covid-19 related cooperation between the two countries. But, to what purpose now, when those American companies are busy fulfilling their commitments to other countries? That is the question the Centre will have to answer next. It is again another monumental failure of the government and the foreign affairs establishment that all the major countries have deposited money with the US companies and placed orders for the vaccines which are being supplied in pre-decided schemes and phases.
Even this delayed start by the Centre in looking for foreign vaccine supplies is marked by machinations to pass the blame for its colossal failure to inoculate the citizens on to the states. After wrongly monopolising procurement and distribution of the two vaccines – Covishield produced by Serum Institute of India (SII) and Covaxin by Bharat Biotech – it allowed 50 per cent of the doses to be purchased by the states and private hospitals. The allocation itself is a scandal as the Centre has decided to do nothing when different prices are being charged by the two companies from the Centre, states and in the open market. This has led to a situation where people are being forced to cough up as much as `2,000 for a single dose from private hospitals.
The next betrayal by the Centre came when it left it to the states to procure vaccines from foreign markets. The government at Centre perhaps knew too well that the states won’t get the vaccines as the orders with the foreign manufacturers are full. Also, the matter came to the notice of the public when the US manufacturers told the governments of Punjab and Delhi that they would only negotiate with the Centre and not with the states. These companies, by their pronouncement, spoilt a brilliant move of the Union government to dump the failures on the states. It’s only then that the country came to learn about Jaishankar’s foray into the US markets.
What the Punjab government’s Nodal Officer (Vaccination) Vikas Garg said May 24 is revealing, indeed. He said Pfizer communicated to the state government that it is working with federal governments across the world to supply its Covid-19 vaccine for use in national immunisation programmes. The pharma major explained its supply agreements are with national governments and supra-national organisations and implementation within the country being a decision for local governments based on relevant health authority guidance. This is because the development, manufacturing, distribution and storage of complex innovative products, including the mRNA technology, requires globally-optimized supply chains. “We have a robust supply chain currently in place with established capabilities – one each in the US and one in Europe – that can quickly manufacture and deploy the vaccine for use across the world,” a Pfizer spokesperson stated to the Nodal Officer.
Pfizer and BioNTech have set a target to deliver over 2.5 billion vaccine doses in 2021. This includes expanding their manufacturing capabilities and increasing the supplier base for key materials to the supply chain, said the company official.
Punjab and Delhi governments have approached various vaccine manufacturers – Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson – for direct purchase of Covid vaccines. The reply from Sputnik V and Johnson & Johnson are reportedly still awaited.
The upshot of all this is that the Centre has steadfastly been misleading the country with the false propaganda that the PM was the greatest leader in the world fighting the pandemic and that India is the top vaccine manufacturer of the world supplying vaccines to foreign countries more than to its own people. The truth is it has shown criminal negligence and monumental incompetence to deal with this national disaster.
Last but not least, let us not undermine the importance that country specific internal politics plays in international diplomacy. The manner in which PM Modi had openly pitched India’s support for former US President Donald Trump in a pre election congregation in Houston, Tx. and also that very perceivable delay on the part of India to congratulate Joe Biden on his victory would certainly play a crucial role now. India’s efforts at sourcing US vaccines would have certainly gained that slight disadvantage.
Slight for others, immense for Indians.