Posers raised over possible "vaccination politics"
Many complain as local authorities take control of vaccination centres
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, May 09 2021: There has been a sudden increase in the number of people wanting to vaccinate following the fear surrounding the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic, the surge in positive cases and shortages of beds and oxygen in hospitals.

However, there have been a slew of complaints regarding the government vaccinations centres, mainly PHCs, CHCs and PHSCs, which have been taken over by local authorities of the constituency concerned.

As such, questions have been raised whether certain powerful people are playing politics in the vaccination programme, which is meant for the general population in the first place.

According to a denizen from Patsoi AC, no vaccination centre has been opened in any of the four PHCs in Patsoi constituency, thus denying the people from getting vaccinated.

Although people could get vaccinated at the nearby Khumbong PHC some time ago, one can no longer vaccinate at the centre ever since the denizens and local authorities have taken over.

Patsoi may be nearer to Imphal but it is still lacking in many aspects and majority of the people cannot afford to go to private vaccination centres to get vaccinated.

Meanwhile, there have been reports that the adjacent Kongthoujam AC has opened another vaccination centre in addition to Khumbong PHC, while Lamsang Centre has opened three other vaccination centres.

As such, one cannot help but suspect that there is "vaccination politics" on play.

Speaking to The People's Chronicle in this regard, a denizen of Sagolband AC said that a temporary vaccination centre was opened in the constituency under the supervision of the local MLA.

However, the said centre is now defunct.

Presently, vaccination centres are opened by the powerful persons in their respective constituencies with due consideration of the areas where they could garner maximum number of votes.

Sagolband AC may be located within Imphal City but there are many poor families who do not have the means to get vaccinated at private hospitals.

As such, the most correct step would be to open vaccination centres at various designated areas of the constituency while keeping aside all political motives.

On the other hand, officials of some vaccination centres conveyed to this daily that earlier, around 200 people used to get vaccinated per day at most of the vaccination centres.

However, instructions were issued recently to vaccinate only 100 people per day, which could be due to shortage of vaccine in the state.

One of the most common complaints amongst the public is that people above the age of 45 years are unable to get the vaccine even after waiting in queue for a long time.

The truth, however, is that the people in the surrounding areas of the centre have the most opportunity due to their proximity and also due to the fulfillment of the day's slot.

Thus, people from other areas often fail to get vaccinated.

The officials further said that the vaccination programme was first launched on January 16 and the government had urged the people to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, many did not get vaccinated due to unfounded fears, which also led to huge wastage of vaccine allocated to the state.

It was only with the onset of the second wave that people thronged to the vaccination centres to get the jab, thereby overwhelming the centres and causing the delays.

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