Rahul Gandhi writes to PM Modi about ‘the centre's poor implementation and oversight’ of vaccine drive

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, Rahul Gandhi demanded that vaccines be made available to "everyone who needs it" and that vaccine exports be halted immediately, forecasting "catastrophic effects" on the economy if vaccination drive persisted at their present rate.

“Vaccine shortage is a very serious matter, not an Utsav,” Gandhi tweeted in Hindi, referring to the rising number of Covid cases. Prime Minister Modi suggested holding Tika Utsav, a vaccination drive from April 11-14, just a day ago in his meeting with chief ministers, to ensure that the maximum number of qualified beneficiaries across states is vaccinated.

बढ़ते कोरोना संकट में वैक्सीन की कमी एक अतिगंभीर समस्या है, ‘उत्सव’ नहीं-
अपने देशवासियों को ख़तरे में डालकर वैक्सीन एक्सपोर्ट क्या सही है?

केंद्र सरकार सभी राज्यों को बिना पक्षपात के मदद करे।

हम सबको मिलकर इस महामारी को हराना होगा।

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 9, 2021

Gandhi highlighted the fact that despite India possessing first mover advantage in terms of vaccination, the country has barely achieved vaccinating 1 percent of the total national population in the period of 3 months.

He said, "Our vaccination programme has to move beyond an individual's picture on the vaccine certificate, towards guaranteeing maximum vaccination," he criticized the Centre’s actions and said, "The efforts of the scientific community and vaccine makers had been undermined by the centre's poor implementation and oversight.”

He brought up the problem of states complaining about vaccine shortage and the Centre’s reaction to it, "The state governments are repeatedly highlighting vaccine shortages only to receive intemperate statements by the Union Health Minister targeting opposition-ruled states, undercutting cooperative federalism, which you too have stressed as essential."

The former Congress party leader questioned the government’s decision to export vaccines especially when domestic cases of Covid-19 are on a rise on the cusp of facing a second wave of infections. He slammed the Modi administration, "There is no clear reason as to why the government permitted large scale exports of vaccines. While our nation is facing vaccine starvation, more than six crore doses of vaccine have been exported."

He requested the Prime Minister to allow state governments more control over vaccine procurement and distribution along with extending monetary support to ‘vulnerable section’ of society amidst the second wave.