Best of BS Opinion: UK Covid-19 vaccine, better corporate results and more

Business Standard brings you top Opinion pieces of the day

The United Kingdom became the first country in the world to approve a vaccine for Covid-19 and plans to start vaccinating its population from next week. In this context, our editorial here notes that the UK government’s plan for vaccinating its reasonably multicultural population, though significantly smaller than India’s, could offer some pointers for New Delhi’s vaccine rollout plan in conjunction with the states.

Other opinion pieces for the day talk about corporate earnings and macroeconomic policy.

The corporate results are patchy but encouraging. Tax payout, for instance, has risen 31.2 per cent for the entire sample, shoring up government finances and indicating the reported profits are authentic. Apart from good agri-performance, there was surely some fulfilment of deferred demand after lockdown in Q1. A consumption pickup will be required to sustain this improvement, notes our lead editorial. Read it here

Export capabilities need to be developed and built on scale, adapting policies in other emerging economies such as Bangladesh and Vietnam, writes Shyam Ponappa. Read it here

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“The government has today accepted the recommendation from the independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to approve Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine for use.”  

 

UK Government statement