On India's COVID-19 response
The lack of preparedness and finding it hard to adjust to the complexities of the vaccine rollout can be excused, but the denial, the threats, and the misinformation are simply unacceptable.
If you are a critique of the Modi government, you must have heard people defend some of the mistakes of the government - declaring early victory over the virus (people didn’t follow the protocols otherwise everything was in control), Kumbh Mela, and political rallies held around the country (well it wasn’t just the BJP who organized such events) and exporting vaccines and oxygen cylinders (India needs to take care of the world).
Even if you ignore the ones listed above, there were many others that didn’t get as much coverage but must be highlighted:
Turning a blind eye to the warnings and recommendations
It is now well documented that the Indian government was warned by scientific advisers in early March that a more contagious variant was taking hold of the country. Whether this report reached PM Modi is unclear, but his Health Minister certainly had this information. And yet even a month after receiving this information, he was seen on Twitter sharing his leader’s election rallies. This is the same man who spent time promoting the launch of unproven Coronil in February.
The health ministry and ICMR also failed to update the guidelines on the usage of remdesivir medication months into the pandemic as Caravan Magazine noted below. Even now, the country is spending money importing the medication from Egypt and other countries.
India established a COVID-19 task force that didn’t meet in February or March in spite of the surges but I guess it wouldn’t have mattered considering PM Modi was taking decisions in 2020 without consulting with this task force.
Inconsistencies in vaccine approvals
On Feb 24th of this year, India refused to authorize the Russian vaccine, Sputnik V in spite of the documented Phase 3 results. Covishield (by Oxford-Astrazenaca) was granted approval on the basis of promising data emerging from other countries and yet this metric was not followed for Sputnik V in spite of data suggesting efficacy higher than 90%.
In fact, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin was approved even prior to the publishing of Phase 3 results. The same committee asked Pfizer for more detailed data and studies, which lead the company to withdraw its application. In spite of the scientific community widely agreeing on vaccines being the only potential way out of this crisis, India seems to have an inconsistent process and is creating hurdles instead of doing everything possible to attract all vaccine makers.
Make in India approach for vaccine
The “Make in India” campaign introduced by the Modi government back in 2014 was meant to promote companies to establish India as a place of manufacturing and allow job creation. While the campaign’s goal has not been met (manufacturing share of GDP has actually gone down since then), in theory, this is not a bad policy. However, why this is considered important in a health emergency is beyond my understanding.
There has been plenty of chest-thumping pride about making India’s indigenous vaccine, Covaxin. Until April 21st, the manufacturer had not provided any Phase 3 results - 3 months after it has already been approved for public use. When the government was rightly asked about this, they bashed the opponents for playing “political games”. Pushing nationalism instead of doing the appropriate due diligence in a country that carries 1/6th of the world’s population could be incredibly careless, not just for India but for the world. Thankfully, the interim results indicate the vaccine works even if it may not have the same efficacy as its competitors.
——————————————
Some have said that while mistakes have been made by the government, the situation is really complicated, and barely any government in the world has gotten everything right. That’s true - a pandemic of this scale has happened after nearly 100 years and apart from a handful of countries like South Korea, everyone was caught off guard.
Vaccine rollouts and even pricing are very complex problems where a number of different requirements need to be worked through - from storage, transportation, and prioritization. Having the central government control all of the vaccines had its own issues and now that the vaccines are split up 50-50 between states and the center, there are other logistical nightmares.
None of this straightforward, no doubt. And yes, since mid-April when the numbers increased to record highs the government did step up and increase the number of temporary hospitals and beds. They worked with other countries to procure oxygen and started to look at extending the vaccination to age groups below 45. And of course, there have been politicians across parties that have been helping people on social media to the extent they can.
So should we forgive the government’s mistake until March and just give them the benefit of the doubt? Not quite. Here are some things that BJP leaders have done post-March:
Denial and crackdown on hospitals
When the 2nd wave started reaching new heights in April, Home Minister Amit Shah was asked about the healthcare infrastructure and shortage of hospital beds and oxygen. His response made it appear that the shortage was only for a day or two and otherwise, there is no problem whatsoever. This is in stark contrast to what the citizens and even hospitals around the country were noticing. Here’s a tweet from the MD of Artemis Hospital, Gurgoan. This isn’t some small government hospital in a remote part of the country, this is a leading private hospital in the NCR region. In fact, even as late as May 4th, she tweeted that admissions will need to be suspended until the oxygen supply is figured out.
But this isn’t all there is to it. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, arguably the 3rd most popular BJP leader in the country, asked for a crackdown on hospitals that discharge patients due to shortages or ones complaining to the media about the crisis. Trying to save face is one thing, but warning hospitals in the middle of a healthcare crisis is quite another feat.
Fake foreign websites to promote the work done
On May 11th, articles written by two “foreign” media companies called The Australian Today (based on The Australian) and The Daily Guardian (based on the Guardian) were seen flooding social media. On more detailed analysis, it was clear that these websites and articles were put together by BJP supporters and members.
And this wasn’t an attempt by some unknown supporters to save face. The fact that multiple BJP dignitaries from IT Cell Head to MPs and even Ministers shared these shows it was very likely a thought-out campaign to defend the PM and his government’s action. Such efforts would even make Donald Trump proud.
The lack of preparedness and finding it hard to adjust to the complexities of the vaccine rollout can be excused, but the denial, the threats, and the misinformation are simply unacceptable. What all of this has ensured is citizens of India are aatmanirbhar (or self-reliant) on their own ability to find hospital beds, oxygen concentrators, or medication. At least, the government can take credit for fulling that campaign promise.