The Centre must come up with a decisive policy to give  6.5 million doses per day till the end of this year

Millions of global citizens woke up to numbing images of funeral fires dotting bleak, snooty cremation grounds in India, a doomsday visual, which will continue to haunt all who are alive today and the Government in power. A COVID hurricane is sweeping across swathes of India, destabilising lives, uprooting homes and leaving indelible scars for a lifetime. Yet, despite the avalanche of (mis)information being circulated on social media and conventional channels of communication, now is not the time for finger pointing and finding a scapegoat. The war is here, brutal and unwavering. It is time to act decisively. First, India a large country with a huge population of over 135 crore, has to be given a basic shield to fight the virus. While all sorts of home remedies (most unscientific and based on faith) are being circulated, the only proven limited protection available is immunisation. India has managed to provide at least one dose of vaccine to nearly 10 per cent of its population so far and the section immunised has largely been spared the fury of the current second wave  sweeping the country.

This is one area where the Centre needs to act decisively given the fact that it enjoys a robust majority in democratic polity. Remember it was for times like these that the country voted in unison for a powerful Central Government that is not subject to the taciturn volatilities of coalition partners. The Central Government has lethargically managed to vaccinate a minute chunk of India. And in the midst of an acute shortage of the precious shots, it has left the rest of the inoculation programme for the States to negotiate, procure and execute. State Governments are mostly caught in the age-old clutches of a dormant bureaucracy and are mired in corruption. Most of them did not invest in building the crumbling healthcare infrastructure. It may be a lost opportunity and a colossal damage for India, if a couple of States get body blows during the current wave of the virus.

The Central Government, facing flak for the poor state of affairs in the country, swung into action in the last fortnight but, something is amiss. The well-synched effort seen during the first wave is definitely missing in the deadliest phase of the pandemic. One of the reasons (even though it is not confirmed by any Government officials) could be that a large number of civil servants or their staff/families are themselves fighting the infection. The onus for managing the current pandemic wave, therefore, falls on the second chain of command and dropping the baton at this stage would be grievous.

One immediate decision that the Central Government has to take is to remove question marks on universal immunisation in less than a week. Questions like, who will get vaccinated on Central Government quota; will vaccine exports continue; will the Centre foot the vaccine bill for some, while leaving out a large chunk, are haunting. Add to this the confusion among the State Governments, who have less than a week to negotiate prices with the two COVID jab manufacturers in India. The manufacturers have come out with exorbitant prices for these crucial shots. Allowing vaccine makers to reap super profits at the cost of human lives, as many will not be able to afford the shots, could tarnish the welfarist image of the Government. All Central Governments including the US, first spent whatever it took to block an excessive quantity of vaccines for their citizens. Meanwhile India, for some strange reason, felt this was the time to act charitable and kept donating vaccines. At today’s rate India needs nearly Rs 700 billion to vaccinate all citizens above 18. Given the impact it could have, it is a small price. The Centre ought to come up with a decisive policy to administer 6.5 million doses per day till the end of this year. Any Government that is able to do it will go down in history as a saviour.

(The writer is a policy analyst. The views expressed are personal.)