Congress legislator Ampareen Lyngdoh has expressed concern over the central government’s move to direct the states to purchase their own Covid-19 vaccines, saying the cost would be prohibitive for Meghalaya, a relatively poor state.
States who buy their own Covid-19 vaccines from the Serum Institute of India (SII) will have to shell out Rs 400 per dose. The Centre had a contract with SII to supply doses of Covishield at Rs 150 per dose, but, according to the SII this was only for the first 100 million doses.
“I’m worried that the government of India is treating this pandemic by a different yardstick. Never before have you seen the central government telling the state to procure vaccines on their own,” Lyngdoh told Highland Post. “If 45 lakh people above 18 in the state are to be vaccinated from May 1, do you think that Meghalaya will have access to that kind of vaccine numbers and will the pharmaceutical companies be able to deliver those number of vaccines to the state. Will the government of Meghalaya have the kind of resources to cover the young population?”
If the supply of vaccines remained within the purview of the central government, then the vaccine could be sourced at a lower per dose rate, the East Shillong MLA stated. If the cost of the jab is then passed on to the public, it will leave many poor people unable to afford the vaccine, she opined.
The MLA also said that more needs to be done in terms of awareness on the vaccine, as the public are confused about whether, for example, people with high blood pressure should get the jab or not.
Meanwhile, she also repeated her concern that surveillance of entrants into Meghalaya needs to be stepped up at the entry points.
“Some citizens use private and government VIP vehicles to bypass the Covid-19 desk at Umling (the checkpoint in Ri-Bhoi), while most of the returnees have to wait for eight-nine hours minimum at Umling with no physical distancing or anything. With only four counters there, everything is very chaotic,” she said.
Stating that though the vaccine will help the situation, it is more important to monitor the people that are coming back and she further appealed to all returnees to cooperate with the health authorities and follow government-issued protocols in order to fight against the pandemic.
