The vaccination drive in the country is set to get a major boost this month, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said Sunday as he took a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for questioning the government's vaccine delivery programme.
In a response to Gandhi's tweet questioning the availability of vaccines in the country, Mandaviya said, "More than 13 crore vaccines have been administered in India in the month of July. It is going to accelerate this month. We are proud of our healthcare workers for this achievement. Now you should be proud of them and the country."
In the following tweet, he said "I have heard that you are one of the 13 crore people who were vaccinated in July. But you did not speak a word for our scientists, did not appeal to the public to vaccinate. Meaning you are doing petty politics in the name of vaccination. Actually it's not the vaccine, you lack maturity."
Gandhi joined the vaccinated section of India in July end. Questions were raised against the Congress leader over delay in taking the vaccine. It should be noted that Gandhi had tested positive for COVID-19 in mid-April. Not being a senior citizen, he would only have become eligible for inoculation at the beginning of April. In May, the Centre had accepted the recommendations of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19, telling those who had been infected to delay their jab(s) after recovery. As such, people in India are now instructed to wait for three months before taking the vaccine. Hence, he was only eligible to take the jab in July.
Earlier during the day, Gandhi had tweeted in Hindi saying "July is gone, but the shortage of vaccine hasn't gone away." He used the hashtag #WhereAreVaccines.
The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 47 crore with 60,15,842 doses being administered in a span of 24 hours, the Health Ministry said Sunday morning.
More than 3 crore balance and unutilised doses are still available with the states, union territories and private hospitals, it stated.
