2 House panels to review vaccination
NEW DELHI: India’s Covid vaccine management will come under added scrutiny as two parliamentary panels have decided to review it.
Days after the panel on chemical and fertilizers announced it will review the production, the health panel has listed “Vaccine Development, Distribution Management and Mitigation of Pandemic Covid- 19” for detailed examination.
The chemical and fertilizer ministry is responsible for development and regulation of chemicals including those used for making drugs.
The new rounds of parliamentary review into the all-important executive action that is of vital importance are welljustified, according to MPS, as parliamentary committees—an extension of Parliament itself— have supervisory authority over all public activities.
India is scheduled to kickstart Covid vaccination on the 16th of this month and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet all chief ministers on Monday for what is seen as the final round of preparatory meetings before the vaccination starts nationwide.
Covishield, developed by Oxford University and British drugmaker Astrazeneca, will be the lead vaccine in India’s immunisation programme with Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin as a back-up.
Experts have raised questions over what they termed as a hasty approval process by India’s drug regulators for approving Covaxin.
A political storm also brewed over the vaccine with Congress leader Manish Tewari last week alleging that the government had “politically misused the Covid-19 pandemic in its entirety” as he questioned the hasty approval for vaccines.
“The BJP government has politically misused the Covid-19 pandemic in its entirety. The controversy over the vaccine is its latest manifestation. Who is going to get himself vaccinated with a vaccine that has question marks on its reliability,” Tewari was quoted as saying by new agency ANI.
The parliamentary panels, however, are expected to take a larger view of vaccine management including India’s capacity and also look into the government’s entire plan for administration.
The panels will meet the vaccine makers, health ministry officials and other health experts before finalising their reports.