THE POLITICS OF COVID VACCINE DISTRIBUTION

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In a quasi-federal structure like India, states and Centre often fight over domain. The latest dispute concerns the administration of Covid-19 vaccines. States ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’S) political rivals have alleged that the central government is biased in distributing vaccines. Although data on vaccine distribution is only available intermittently, analysis of vaccine administration offers a clearer picture.

Are Bjp-ruled states doing better in vaccinating their population?

By August 25, 35.1 per cent of India’s eligible population (18-plus) was partially vaccinated (had received a single dose) and 14.6 per cent was fully inoculated.

A Business Standard analysis indicates that of the top five states with the highest percentage of fully vaccinated population, two (Delhi and Kerala) are ruled by opposition parties. (For this analysis, those states that recorded over 200,000 Covid cases have been considered). If we discount smaller states like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, then the performance of Bjp-ruled states worsens. Of the top 10 states in terms of fully vaccinated individuals, eight are ruled by opposition parties.

But the Bjp-ruled states perform better in terms of partially vaccinated population. Here, barring Kerala, the others in the top five list are Bjp-ruled. However, among the top 10 states in the partially vaccinated category, half are ruled by opposition parties.

On June 21, the central government said it was making vaccination free of cost. Since then, three of the five states to record the highest vaccination rate among 18- to 44-year-olds are ruled by opposition parties. In Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh, vaccination numbers have shot up nearly 3.5 times. Congress-ruled Punjab has witnessed a 3.3-time rise, followed by Kerala (Left-ruled), Uttar Pradesh (Bjpruled) and Assam (Bjp-ruled). Opposition parties govern six of the 10 fastest vaccinating large states. This, at a time when BJP and its allies control 60 per cent of Indian states.

Data indicates that the spread — difference between the increase in vaccination in the most vaccinated state and the least — has narrowed. Between May 1 and June 21, the number of individuals vaccinated had increased 10.8 times for Bjp-governed Goa but only 0.24 times for Chhattisgarh. In the free-for-all vaccination policy, the spread is just 1.8x. The lowest vaccinating state, Arunachal Pradesh, has administered 1.91 times more vaccines since June 25.

The central government doesn’t appear to be biased, but there is a concern about the equitable administration of vaccines. Are the poor underserved?