Lancet blames Centre for Covid crisis
NEW DELHI: An editorial in medical journal Lancet has blamed the central government for the ongoing coronavirus disease (Covid-19) crisis in the country, holding it responsible for “allowing superspreader” religious and political events and “botching up” the vaccination campaign.
The editorial said that the government said that the government gave the impression that India had “beaten Covid-19” despite the sero-surveillance done by Indian Council of Medical Research showing that only 21% of the population had been exposed to the viral infection.
“Despite warnings about the risks of superspreader events, the government allowed religious festivals to go ahead, drawing millions of people from around the country, along with huge political rallies— conspicuous for their lack of Covid-19 mitigation measures. The message that Covid-19 was essentially over also slowed the start of India’s Covid-19 vaccination campaign, which has vaccinated less than 2% of the population. At the federal level, India’s vaccination plan soon fell apart,” the editorial said.
The editorial said the government also ignored “several” warnings about the dangers of a second wave. “Before the second wave of cases began to mount in early March, Indian Minister of Health Harsh Vardhan declared that India was in the “endgame” of the epidemic. The impression from the government was that India had beaten Covid-19 after several months of low case counts, despite repeated warnings of the dangers of a second wave and the emergence of new strains. Modelling suggested falsely that India had reached herd immunity, encouraging complacency and insufficient preparation,” the editorial said.
Dr Lalit Kant, former head of epidemiology division at the ICMR, said he agreed with the editorial completely. “The government should take responsibility for the situation we are in.” “The truth is 50 to 60% of Indians must already have been exposed, but the rest can still drive a surge with faster spreading variants,” he added.
The Union ministry of health was unavailable for a comment on the editorial.
The observations come as India continued to report over 400,000 daily new cases of the viral infection for the past five days. On Sunday, the total number of Covid infections reached 22,289,452, with 403,196 new cases. The death toll due to the viral disease has reached 242,273.
As for the vaccination drive, the editorial said, “At the federal level, India’s vaccination plan soon fell apart. The government abruptly shifted course without discussing the change in policy with states, expanding vaccination to everyone older than 18 years, draining supplies, and creating mass confusion and a market for vaccine doses in which states and hospital systems competed.”
Dr SK Sarin, director of Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences and head of the Delhi’s first committee on control and management of Covid-19, said, “I agree that the vaccination drive needs to be sped up; vaccine hesitancy is no longer there but we need to ensure availability of the vaccines.”
Mounting an attack on the government, Congress leader Ajay Maken said: “The lancet says very clearly that this isn’t a natural disaster but a manmade one. The government should own up to its mistakes.”