Political slugfest erupts in India

The Minister for State for Information and Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar, attaching the video of the Pfizer CEO’s uneasy encounter with the reporter at Davos, tweeted, “Just to remind all Indians, that Pfizer tried to bully Govt of India into accepting conditions of indemnity.” The minister also went on to target Congress’ Rahul Gandhi, P Chidamabaram and Jairam Ramesh, claiming that the trio kept pushing the case for administering foreign vaccines in India. “People are surprised that only three vaccines have been made available in India: Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik Of the three, you can write off Sputnik because only a small quantity was imported in the initial days,” Congress veteran Chidambaram had tweeted on 27 December 2021. “We are left with 2 vaccines thanks to the PROTECTIONIST policy of the Modi Government Pfizer, Moderna and other WHO-approved vaccines are kept out of India on one pretext or other Which is why we don’t have enough vaccines to administer 2 doses to the 94 crore adult population.” Notably, India’s immunisation drive against Covid was by and large fulfilled through indigenously manufactured vaccines. Going back to the initial days of the commencement of the vaccination drive, the US-based pharma firm Pfizer sought an indemnity bond that will exempt it from legal claims in case there are any adverse effects from the vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine is not available in the country as of now. India kickstarted its massive vaccination drive against Covid-19 with AstraZeneca’s Covishield (made by Serum Institute of India) and the indigenous Covaxin. As the pandemic was raging in 2021, there was immense pressure on the government to buy Pfizer and Moderna vaccines but it put its foot down due to some drastic terms, including an indemnity clause, placed by the pharmaceutical firm. Last year, health minister Mansukh Mandaviya had reportedly said both Moderna and Pfizer had placed the indemnity condition before the government. According to the indemnity clause, these two companies could not be held responsible or be prosecuted under Indian law in case of any severe side effect or even death on taking their vaccine. BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala said, “Pfizer CEO in Davos being exposed on vaccines. Remember how Congress batted for foreign-made vaccines- Rahul G, Jairam, entire party. They kept creating vaccine hesitancy too about Indian-made vaccines! Some called it the BJP vaccine. Will they apologise & tell us about their DEAL?” He further said that the Congress-Kejriwal ecosystem was openly batting for Pfizer vaccines and questioning the government of India. “Congress-Kejriwal ecosystem were openly batting for Pfizer vaccines; Kejriwal tweeted that it should be procured ASAP despite Pfizer wanting indemnity from liability which GoInwas against. Why were they batting for foreign made vaccines & spreading rumours about Indian ones?” asked Poonawala. Countering the BJP’s criticism, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh launched a frontal attack on Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and called him a ‘liar’. Taking to Twitter, Jairam Ramesh said, “This is total bullshit Mr Minister. Let not your ambition to climb the greasy pole make you more of a liar than you are.” “People are surprised that only three vaccines have been made available in India: Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik Of the three, you can write off Sputnik because only a small quantity was imported in the initial days,” Congress veteran Chidambaram had tweeted on December 27, 2021. Albert Bourla, Chief Executive Officer of US-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, encountered a series of tough questions about the efficacy of its Covid vaccine on the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum meeting, but he repeatedly ignored the queries and a video on it has gone viral.