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Ex-PM Manmohan Singh's 5 suggestions to PM Modi on fighting Covid crisis
YB WEB DESK. Dated: 4/19/2021 11:35:27 AM
New Delhi, Apr 18 Aday after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, highlighting five suggestions for combating the second and more severe Covid-19 wave in India. In a two-page letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the veteran Congress leader said one must not look at absolute numbers, but the percentage of the population vaccinated. “The key to our fight against Covid-19 must be ramping up the vaccination effort. We must resist the temptation to look at the absolute numbers being vaccinated, and focus instead on the percentage of the population vaccinated,” said Manmohan Singh in the letter. Noting that India has vaccinated only a small fraction of its population, Dr Manmohan Singh said he is certain that “we can do much better and very quickly with the right policy design.” “There are many things we must do to fight the epidemic, but a big part of this effort must be ramping up the vaccination programme,” he said. Dr Manmohan Singh further said that the government should indicate how the expected vaccine supply will be distributed across states on a transparent formula. “The Centre could retain 10 per cent for distribution based on emergency needs, but other than that, states should have a clear signal of likely availability so that they can plan their rollout,” he wrote. In his third proposal, the former PM said that states should be given some flexibility to define categories of frontline workers who can be vaccinated even if they are below 45 years of age. The Centre must proactively support vaccine producers to expand their manufacturing facilities quickly by providing funds and other concessions. "In addition, I believe this is the time to invoke the compulsory licensing provision in the law so that a number of companies are able to produce the vaccines under a licence," wrote Dr Singh. The former PM also gave an example of Israel saying it has already invoked the compulsory licensing provision, and there is an overwhelming case for India to do so as well quickly.