GSL-1

Greetings to the esteemed Executive Board and fellow delegates. Covid-19 has
exacted a toll on individuals, families, communities and entire nations. The
pandemic has overwhelmed health systems and badly shaken economies
around the world. Its effective and efficient control will require sustained
public health measures along with fair and equitable allocation of vaccines,
and the government of West Bengal has been taking several measures for this.
Procuring vaccines directly from manufacturers between May 11 and May 21,
West Bengal has bought over 10 lakh does of Covishield. Not just this, the
Kolkata Municipal Corporation brass has decided to open its 102 centres of
inoculation for priority groups in the 18-44 age category. The civic centres will
now vaccinate transport workers, bus, taxi and auto drivers, vegetable and fish
sellers and grocery shop owners in a specific time of the day. Apart from this,
the Kolkata Municipal Corporation has already opened its vaccination centres
for those in the 45+ age group who want to get the first dose of Covishield.
This facility is available at all 102 KMC-run COVID vaccination centres in 144
wards. Moreover, now KMC is using 44 centres for administration of Covaxin
second dose.
To conclude, West Bengal has been working tirelessly to provide vaccines to all
and I would urge the Election Commission to prevent any kind of criminal
negligence bordering on manslaughter in a pandemic like this again. I would
also like to urge the Central Government not to take decisions like organizing
KumbhMela, which lead to a rapid increase in COVID cases and deaths.
Thank you.
GSL-2
Greetings to the esteemed Executive Board and fellow delegates.As I had
mentioned in my previous speech as well, a vaccination programme that
covers a population as vast as India’s 1.3 billion is expected to be a herculean
task, but India has implemented national immunisation campaigns with
relative success in the past, though the vaccination drive has been facing many
problems recently. India administered more than 180 million doses in August
as it continues to ramp up its vaccination drive to stave off a third wave of
Covid. Six months after India began the world's largest vaccination drive, it has
administered vaccines to just over 13 percent of its population.India needs to
give about eight to nine million vaccines a day to vaccinate everyone who is
eligible.Despite a promising start in January, the drive has lagged in recent
months because of low supply and delays in approving new vaccines.Most
countries, especially those in the developing world, have struggled to access
vaccines - a challenge that India, as the world's largest vaccine maker, didn't
expect to face.In June, the federal government told the Supreme Court that
1.35 billion doses will become available between August and December. It
would take about 1.8 billion doses to vaccinate all eligible adults in India.
Another problem which is being faced by the citizens of India is critical oxygen
supply, which the Central Government and Mr. Modi even denies to accept.
In the end, I would like to say that if we work together, we will be able to do it
because individually we are a drop and together we are an ocean.
Thank you.
GSL-3
India’s Covid vaccination rollout has continued to falter due to supply
shortages and vaccine hesitancy, casting doubt on the government’s pledge to
vaccinate the entire population by December.A number of states, including the
capital, Delhi, said they had run out of vaccine stocks while others including
Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra said vaccine supplies were running
critically low in many areas, particularly for those aged between 18 and 45. Not
just vaccines, but states are also running short on PPE kits, N95 masks, etc. and
West Bengal is also one of them. The ICMR has not been supplying the
demanded quantity of resources.Vaccinating India, the second most populous
country in the world with more than 1.3 billion citizens, is a gargantuan task.
However, nationwide figures show that the country is nowhere near hitting the
daily target needed to have the whole adult population vaccinated by the end
of 2021, as was promised in May by a government minister, Mr. Prakash
Javadekar.With the present Indian population of over 130 crore people, the
number of vaccines required would be about 310 crore doses (3.1 billion
doses). This is the number of doses required with provisions of about 15%
process losses, which is inevitable in any vaccination strategy. While it is not an
easy task to gather such huge doses in a short time, India should not give up.
With this, I’d like to end my speech.
Thank you.