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Dom's Take:The Free Vaccine U-Turn

December 02, 2020 16:00 IST

Remember my Take on Vaccine politics some weeks ago after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Minister of State Pratap Sarangi asserted that all Indians would be given the COVID vaccine free of charge? That promises being made just before Biharis voted for a new government.

Well, it appears that that ministerial assurance may have been an election jumla after all.

On Tuesday, December 1, the govermnent stated there may not be a need to vaccinate the entire Indian population against COVID-19 if a critical mass of people are given a shot to break the chain of virus transmission.

The Modi Sarkar made it clear it had never spoken about inoculating everyone of us Indians.

I am not at all surprised by this U-turn. It is par for the course for this government and one can expect another U-turn when the assembly elections in Assam, Bengal and Kerala approach in April.

 

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com

DOMINIC XAVIER