Look at what is happening on such an important issue like containing the pandemic. Last year the public stayed indoors during the national lockdown, but come 2021, with elections to the five states, politics came to the fore. The Prime Minister left it to the states to decide when to impose lockdown at the state level. Soon, the states faced issues like shortage of hospital beds, oxygen and COVID vaccines.
Indeed, the second wave, which hit the country when least expected in March, has plunged it into panic as the country was simply not prepared.
Chief ministers like Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal went to court for more oxygen supply by the Centre. A victorious West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee too attacked the Centre for shirking its responsibility to make vaccines available to the people.
A major row has broken out between the Centre and states over the differential pricing that has been fixed for the purchase of vaccines.
DMK leader MK Stalin tweeted calling it “discriminatory”. Maharashtra, the worst-hit state in the second wave, had also decided to make its own plans to counter the increasing vaccine shortage in the state.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan urged the Centre to provide the vaccines free to the states since they were already reeling under the financial impact of the pandemic.
Chhattisgarh, which had announced free vaccines to all adults above the age of 18, demanded that the Centre should roll back this decision which made states compete with each other.
