The Congress on Wednesday attacked the Centre over the “shortage” of Covid-19 vaccines. It said the third wave of the pandemic may hit the country very badly due to the “slow” pace of vaccination and the Government's “failure”.
Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said the weekly pace of vaccinations has declined to nearly 60 percent of what was seen in the week after June 21.
Rahul Gandhi, who has been persistently targeting the Centre over its handling of the pandemic, said there are “jumlas (rhetoric)” but no vaccines.
“Jumle hain, vaccine nahin (There is rhetoric, no vaccines),” Rahul tweeted using the hashtag 'WhereAreVaccines'.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh pointed to complaints of shortage of vaccines in several states and urged the Modi government to double the vaccine procurement and allocate the same to states fairly.
“Vaccine shortages are now hampering drives even in states friendly to Modi government - Odisha, Andhra and Telangana - in addition to states governed by Opposition.
The only way forward is: Double vaccine procurement and allocate to states fairly and transparently,” Ramesh said.
The two leaders pointed to the shortage of vaccines in several states including Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Telangana, Odisha, Kerala and Delhi.
“The Government led by PM Narendra Modi claimed that it will fully vaccinate all adults by year end. For that, 80 lakh doses need to be given daily. Yet, only 34 lakh doses are being given daily,” Kharge said in a series of tweets.
“Thanks to Modi Government's failure, the 3rd wave may hit India very badly,” he said.