New Delhi: With India’s decision to allow emergency use of Covid-19 vaccines, prime time debates Sunday were beaming with pride as well as with some questions on the logistics of the rollout and opposition leaders’ disapproval of Bharat Biotech.
On Aaj Tak’s ‘Dangal’, anchor Chitra Tripathi discussed the political opposition to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved Covaxin. The doubts that are being raised on the vaccine will also lead to several misconceptions among the masses, said Tripathi.
“First it was ‘BJP’s EVM’, ‘BJP’s ballot paper’ and now it’s ‘BJP’s vaccine’ — for how long Congress party’s negative politics will continue in this country?” Tripathi asked Congress spokesperson Gaurav Vallabh.
Vallabh said, “We just want this assurance that the vaccine is the best one available to us. We do not doubt our scientists and researchers but we want the government to assure that all procedures have been completed beforehand and that the vaccine will be available to everyone for free.”
BJP’s Zafar Islam took a jibe at Congress, “The opposition is not happy with the vaccine because it is made in India and not made in Italy.”
Discussing why politics has intensified over the vaccine, anchor Aditi Tyagi asked on Zee News, “Who should have a right to speak over people’s health — the experts or the politicians?”
BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said the vaccine has been developed by scientists and researchers and not in the laboratory of BJP. “The opposition has the misconception that they can raise questions on anything and everything just because they are in the opposition,” he added.
On NDTV India, Samajwadi Party’s Anurag Bhadauria was seen defending Akhilesh Yadav’s statement in which he said that he will not take “BJP’s vaccine”.
“We have complete faith on the vaccine but we do not trust the BJP. In Uttar Pradesh, there were many scams with respect to PPE kits, hospitals and medical equipment during Covid. Amid this corruption we cannot trust BJP,” he said.
Meanwhile, public health researcher Anant Bhan explained that the questions are being raised because the third phase trials of Covaxin have not been completed yet. Even though it is an emergency situation the required scientific process and protocols cannot be skipped, he said.
NewsX’s Rishabh Gulati held a debate on the logistics of India’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout. “Is a slow but sure approach the best? Should we try to give 50 million doses in one month?” he asked.
Former ICMR director general N.K. Ganguly said that trials in the UK, Germany and other European countries have been able to vaccinate 1,000 people in one day “and if they exceed that, the vaccination doesn’t go very well”. He added that vaccine availability will also be a challenge.
Gulati later asked if people with co-morbidities and those unable to travel would be able to get the vaccine at their doorstep.
Former AIIMS director Dr M.C. Misra said, “People will have to announce themselves that they can’t travel and I’m sure there will be a system.”
However, AIIMS vaccine expert Dr Rajeev Seth didn’t mince his words. He said, “…whether all these people you’re talking about, whether normal or with co-morbidities, can they access the [Co-WIN] app or can they log on — those are initial challenges and they will have to be surmounted.” He added that ASHA workers will be key in overcoming these challenges.
Times Now’s Rahul Shivshankar held a debate on “how fast can India’s economy grow?”
“There are already green shoots… Are these false positives or is there really something for us to look at closely and come away feeling that we could see recovery through levels that could be satisfactory by the middle of 2021 or Q2 of 2021?” he said.
BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda celebrated news that GST collections have been “the highest ever” this year.
“The government has put in about Rs 30 lakh crore, about 15 per cent of GDP, in different forms of stimulus,” he said.
Concurring, author and economist Gurcharan Das said, “Where I agree with Jay [Panda] is that there is grounds for optimism… this government has finally shown a will to reform. Although, I know, we are facing difficulties, the agricultural reform is a very big deal. This is almost as big as a 1991 moment.”
Meanwhile, senior economist Arun Kumar reminded that “green shoots” means there is not yet a return to “2019 levels”.
Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami beamed when he introduced his show saying, “This is the first Sunday debate of the year, 2021”. With the hashtag #PoliticsOverEverything, he asked — “Is perpetual politics holding back the India story?”
Senior journalist and former media advisor to ex-CM Kamal Nath, Pankaj Sharma said it was “dirty politics”.
He added: “Politics is the problem when people ruling our great nation refuse to have a dialogue on anything and breathe only in monologue… what is holding us back is the tendency of power-hungry rulers taking the credit of vaccine, even our ISRO scientists, Olympians and security agencies…”
Speaking on SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s comments criticising the “BJP vaccine”, author Anand Ranganathan called it “absolutely condemnable”.
He added: “A person like him can be arrested because the compulsory vaccination and the Epidemic Act are in place as far as Covid is concerned…he remains, by not taking the vaccine, an obstacle to herd immunity.”
Due to lack of protocols and enough trials rushing inoculation may lead to side effects. Unfortunately in our country poor accountability for the costly lapses. What is preventing the government to trial results in the official domain for international experts free and Frank opinions on vaccine.
The Print is a nay-sayer & a merchant of Doom & Gloom.
Go sell your wares elsewhere – China & Pakistan are apt places for you.
Be Gone you Cassandras.