The Evening Wrap: Covid-19 vaccination drive is ‘different’ and ‘biggest’, claims govt in SC

The Hindu Newsletter - The biggest news stories from today [logo] The Evening Wrap Monday | 10 May, 2021 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Covid-19 vaccination drive is ‘different’ and ‘biggest’, claims govt in SC The [Covid-19 vaccination drive is the “biggest” ever and “completely different”]( from the immunisation drives of the previous decades, the Union government said on Monday, responding to criticism that its inoculation push is crumbling. The government said that unlike the vaccination campaigns of the past, the Covid-19 immunisation drive did not have the “luxury” of time. In previous vaccination drives, there was time to manufacture and distribute vaccines. But Covid-19 has crash-landed on humanity. The current need for vaccination was both “emergent and urgent”, it said. Critics and experts, however, have said the government has many lessons to learn from the polio immunisation drive conducted decades ago. [Covid 19 vaccination drive in progress in the capital on Monday.] “This drive to vaccinate each and every adult person in the country is completely different from other vaccinations conducted by the country in the past in more than one way... The vaccines [for Covid-19] are developed very recently throughout the world and therefore, their production has also started very recently. Another peculiar feature of this vaccination is that the vaccine requires two doses, separated by four to eight weeks,” the government reasoned in a 218-page affidavit filed in the Supreme Court. The government added that vaccine production was expected to increase in the next couple of months. It said Serum Institute of India has ramped up production from five crore doses per month to 6.5 crore doses monthly. A further increase was expected in July 2021. Similarly, Bharat Biotech has hiked production from 90 lakh per month to two crore doses a month. An increase of up to 5.5 crore doses per month is expected by July 2021, it said. A three-judge Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud could not hear arguments on the affidavit due to technical glitches during the virtual hearing. The hearing has been adjourned to Thursday. In the affidavit, the Centre assured an equitable allocation of vaccines to States. It said it had determined, in consultation with the vaccine manufacturers, the State-wise “pro rata” population of those within the target age of 18 and 44. The Centre asked the States to maintain discipline and view India as “one unit”. The efforts to combat the virus should be “pan-Indian”. One State should not try to procure vaccine at the cost of other States, it said. Recently, the Mamata Banerjee government had criticised the Centre in the apex court on differential vaccine pricing and and how the Centre, at ₹150 a vaccine, had got a cheaper deal than the States. The West Bengal government had also pointed out how bigger States could negotiate better prices with the vaccine manufacturers, leaving smaller States with miniscule resources high and dry. [underlineimg] Videos show bodies of suspected Covid-19 victims floating in Ganga [Videos of several bodies of suspected Covid-19 victims seen floating in the Ganga]( at Chausa village of Buxar district in Bihar have gone viral on social media, sparking outrage and shock. Chausa is about 10 kms from the headquarters of the border district of Buxar, adjoining eastern Uttar Pradesh. The villagers first spotted several bodies floating along the bank of the river on Monday morning and informed local authorities. “Nearly 30-40 dead bodies can be seen in the Ganga and there are stray dogs roaming around. Yes, most of them are likely to be those of Covid-19 victims,” social activist and local lawyer Ashwini Varma told The Hindu. According to Varma, the exorbitant cost of cremation could have forced the poor to jettison bodies in the river. “It nearly costs ₹30,000-40,000 to cremate a body. So the poor people prefer to push bodies into the river Ganga,” he said. “Stray dogs are devouring the dead bodies, which could well be of Covid-19 victims. It will spread the virus as well,” he added. Local officials at the site admit unofficially that most the bodies could be of infected persons. “We’re on the spot right now and nothing can be said till an inquiry is held but yes, the bodies are there, floating in the river,” said a local official. The villagers of Chausa have demanded the deployment of an official at the cremation grounds to control the price of firewood “so that people are not forced to throw the dead into the river”. [underlineimg] Second wave of Covid-19 a direct consequence of government’s incompetence: CWC resolution The [second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is nothing short of “a grave calamity]( and a direct consequence of the Narendra Modi government’s indifference, insensitivity and incompetence,” the Congress Working Committee (CWC) said in a resolution on Monday. The CWC, that met virtually to discuss the party’s performance in the recent Assembly polls, spent considerable time discussing the coronavirus situation. In her opening remarks, party president Sonia Gandhi said the country had paid a ‘horrendous price’ for the Modi government’s neglect and the health system had collapsed. [ Sonia Gandhi. File ] The CWC expressed concern over the government’s vaccination strategy, insufficient supplies, ‘opaque and discriminatory’ pricing policy and mandatory online registration that would exclude people in rural areas and from poor economic background from walk-in for vaccination. It pointed out that the infection had travelled “massively” into rural areas that had no access to RT PCR testing, medicines, oxygen or hospitalisation and it had resulted in a large number of painful deaths. The party also charged the Prime Minister with instructing his Health Minister to reply to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s suggestion in a ‘most undignified manner’. “The CWC expresses its revulsion at the shocking expenditure priorities of the Modi government. At a time when the nation’s resources should be devoted to ensuring expansion of vaccination coverage and supply of essential medicines and oxygen, the Modi government is indulging in criminal waste of money by continuing with the personal vanity project of the Prime Minister in the national capital. This is the height of callousness and insensitivity as also an insult to the people of the country,” it noted. The data on Covid-19 deaths was “horribly wrong” and “afflicted by massive non-reporting”, it stated. “The solution lies in facing the challenge and stopping the casualties from Covid-19 and not in concealing the truth by burying the data on deaths and infections”, it observed. [underlineimg] New Assam CM wants 10-20% re-verification of NRC Assam Chief Minister [Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said the BJP-led government wants 10-20% re-verification]( of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Soon after being sworn in as the State’s 15th Chief Minister, he said that his coalition government favoured 20% re-verification of the updated list of citizens in districts that share a border with Bangladesh and 10% in the remaining districts. “We will go ahead with the NRC if the draft (published in August 2019) is found to be flawless during the re-verification process. But we want the Supreme Court to look into it if anomalies are detected,” he said. The apex court had monitored the exercise of updating the NRC of 1951 in Assam. About 19.06 lakh out of 3.3 crore applicants were excluded from the updated draft. Earlier in the day, Governor Jagdish Mukhi administered the oath of office and secretary to Dr Sarma and 13 others who were also sworn in as Cabinet Ministers. [underlineimg] Govt says all steps on for supply of Remdesivir and Tocilizumab The Union government informed the Supreme Court that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) have jointly [undertaken the allocation of available supplies of Covid-19 drugs Remdesivir and Tocilizumab]( across the States and Union Territories in view of a surge in demand for them. The Centre said the Health Ministry, with the support of the DoP and Ministry of External Affairs, was “making all efforts to enhance availability of Remdesivir through ramping up of production and sourcing through imports”. However, there were constraints on the availability of raw materials and other essential inputs for Remdesivir. Mere addition of production capacity may not lead to the desired outcomes of enhanced supplies. “It is difficult to predict the trend of the pandemic and, therefore, difficult to forecast the demand for Remdesivir with a reasonable degree of certainty. Therefore, it is communicated that the matter of sending the proposal for invocation of the provisions of Section 100 (for government use) of the Patents Act, 1970, is being processed,” the government stated. The prices of Remdesivir have gone down by 25% to 50%, it noted. A total of 34.50 lakh vials were allocated for the period April 21 to May 9, against which 33.96 lakh vials were supplied till May 7, it noted. In the case of Tocilizumab, as the country was entirely dependent on imports, out of the limited stock of vials imported on April 26, 3,245 were allocated to States the next day and an additional allocation of 6,655 vials was done on April 30 to States. Another 1,200 vials have been kept for Central allocation by the Health Ministry, it pointed out. “It is stated that about 6,478 vials have been supplied till May 7. Efforts are underway to procure, import more Tocilizumab,” it assured. The DCGI (Drugs Controller General of India) has instructed State Drugs Controllers (SDCs) to conduct a special investigation drive to prevent hoarding/black marketing of Remdesivir. [underlineimg] Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The [number of reported coronavirus cases from India]( stood at 2,27,97,584 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the official death toll at 2,47,490. On vaccination, the Health Ministry continues to push absolute numbers without considering the percentage or proportion of the population inoculated – a key metric to assess the success of an immunization drive. India is the fastest country globally to administer 17 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses, a release said today. It added that China took 119 days while the United States took 115 days to reach the same landmark. [underlineimg] In Brief: Former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami was on Monday “unanimously” elected as the AIADMK Legislature Party leader, according to a party release. Following his election by the party’s newly elected legislators at the party head office in Chennai, he is set to be the Leader of Opposition in Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. The AIADMK is the second largest party in the 16th Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. A letter electing him as the AIADMK Legislature Party Leader was handed over by party leaders to Assembly Secretary K. Srinivasan on Monday afternoon. Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli lost a trust vote in the House of Representatives on Monday, in a fresh setback to the embattled premier seeking to tighten his grip on power after the CPN (Maoist Centre) led by Pushpakamal Dahal “Prachanda” withdrew support to his government. Oli, 69, secured 93 votes in the lower house of Parliament during a special session convened on the directives of President Bidya Devi Bhandari. Oli required at least 136 votes in the 275-member House of Representatives to win the confidence motion as four members are currently under suspension. A total of 124 members voted against him. [underlineimg] Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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