Have you been following the debate about the Covid-19 vaccine around the world? Good! You must have heard people dispassionately comparing the different vaccines, their efficiency, their cost, side effects, peer reviews, approval by the World Health Organisation, how herd immunity can or cannot be achieved…Now tune into the debate on the vaccine in Mauritius and you will hear a totally different conversation.

The debate here seems to be less about clinical trials, efficiency or cost and more about our allegiance to the country providing the vaccine. Try participating in the debate with scientific and logical arguments and you will immediately be shoved in the category of India haters and very soon you might upgrade to the class of anti-Modi, anti-Hindu and perhaps from there to a Nazi or something similar. You might get away criticising Sputnik, Sinovac or Sinopharm but mention Covaxin and you are branded for life.

It is against this backdrop that doctors and editorialists alike have to navigate issues crucial to public health in this country. So let me start by saying that I love India and that Narendra Modi is, in my opinion, doing the right thing for his country – as far as the current debate is concerned. Let me add that I would have had much less respect for him if he were protecting us at the expense of his own people, which he definitely is not, much as the sentimental and naïve people among us would like to believe.

Now that that has been settled, let me add that I have nothing against Covaxin either. My contention is three-fold.

First, it is common knowledge that Covaxin is still at the trial stage. A communiqué from the drugs controller general of India to Bharat Biotech, the producer of the vaccine, clearly states that the permission granted is “for restricted use in [an] emergency situation in [the] public interest as an abundant precaution in clinical trial mode”, adding, “you are required to continue ongoing phase-3 clinical trial as per approved clinical trial protocol and submit revised summary of product characteristics...”. To put it simply, we are talking about a vaccine that is not ready yet!

Secondly, though Covaxin should strictly not be sold as it is being used in clinical trial mode with all the implications that such a condition warrants, we have to pay through the nose for this privilege. Worse, our ministers look at us in the eye and tell us lies! First, we were led to believe that the Covaxin was a donation, which two ministers craving publicity, accompanied by the Indian high commissioner, lined up at the airport to receive. A Private Notice Question in parliament this week revealed that a sum of Rs140 million had been disbursed for a ‘donation’ of 230,150 doses of Covaxin. If my math holds me right, this means Rs600 per dose of Covaxin [INR*1,080]! To put that in context, according to Hindustan Times, India paid INR200 [Rs112] per dose. The publication admittedly specifies that “this is a special discount price for the Indian government”. ThePrint confirms that India finally paid “a renegotiated price of INR150 per dose (with taxes)”.

I am not saying we should get anything for free. I have always been openly against a country with such a high GDP – and which can toss Rs400 million at Liverpool for an advert that nobody sees – going around with its begging bowl to pick up whatever crumbs are thrown at it by countries with a lower GDP. I have equally put the legitimate question of what we are giving in return. I am not even suggesting – perish the thought – that Bharat Mata negotiate a similar deal of Rs70 or so for Chhota Bharat. What I am saying is: why are we paying so much more for a vaccine still in the trial phase?

Thirdly, why did two ministers have to parade in front of the cameras to ‘receive’ the vaccine? In which other country in the world have you seen ministers going to the airport to ‘receive’ purchased goods? What are we missing here that we may find out later? Is there someone again not sleeping with dilwil dan zorey?

None of this is against India and too bad if some bigots decide to believe otherwise. India is protecting its people and its economy – as it should. Who are we protecting and who is protecting us? That’s all I am asking!

*INR: Indian Rupees