Manish Sisodia said the US has approved all three of Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson in December 2020 but India is yet to approve it
The Central government has made a mockery of the COVID-19 vaccination process in the country, Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Monday.
“The Central government has made a mockery of the vaccination process. The US approved all three of Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson in December 2020. All three have not yet been approved in India,” Manish Sisodia said while adding that the United Kingdom recognized Pfizer in December but the same was still unrecognized in India.
Manish Sisodia went on to say that Russia approved the Sputnik vaccine in August 2020 and began mass vaccinations in December. “In 2020, the Central government of our country had previously refused to approve Sputnik, while by that time 68 countries had approved Sputnik, we have approved it in April 2021,” the Deputy CM said while taking a dig at the BJP-led government at the Centre.
Manish Sisodia added that the Pfizer vaccine was valid in 85 countries of the world, Moderna in 46 countries while Johnson & Johnson was approved by 41 countries. “All the countries of the world approved these vaccines and bought them for their entire population, but we could not even give the approval so far,” he said.
“In March 2020, the US had invested $10 billion for the vaccine called Operation ‘Warp Seed’, even though the vaccine was not fully ready at that time. But our Central government did this in April 2021 and lost a crucial month’s time,” Sisodia argued.
The Delhi Dy CM said that Prime Minister Modi first visited the Serum Institute in November 2020 and asked, “After all, why did the government not invest in Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute at the same time? Why did the government wait until April 2021 to provide financial support to both vaccine-producing companies?”
“When there was a ruckus in the country about the Corona and the noise of the vaccine, the Central government flouted and asked the State governments to take out global tenders and buy the vaccine themselves. How will a State buy a vaccine even when the Central government has not approved the same?” the minister asked.
Earlier, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also stressed that vaccination was very important in order to check the surge in new cases of COVID-19. He tweeted, “Vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate. That’s the key. That’s the learning from across the globe.”
India, according to Delhi CM, should also concentrate on how to vaccinate ‘our population in least possible time’.
It is in place to mention here that a top Punjab official had stated on Sunday that the COVID-19 vaccine maker Moderna, located in the United States, had refused to supply vaccinations directly to the State government, claiming that it only deals with the federal governments.