Rahul Gandhi asked what does the prime minister stand on inoculating everyonewith the COVID-19 vaccine.
Highlights
- Government never spoke about vaccinating entire country: Health Secretary
- During Bihar poll, Finance Minister promised "free Covid vaccine for all"
- PM Narendra Modi recently visited facilities working on vaccine for India
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today attacked the centre over its statement that it had never spoken about inoculating everyone with the COVID-19 vaccine in his latest attack on the government amid the pandemic which has affected 95.3 lakh people in the country.
Taking to twitter, the former Congress president cited the differences in statements of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government and the BJP on the anticipated vaccine for the COVID-19 as he asked "exactly what does the prime minister stand by".
The centre on Tuesday said there may not be a need to vaccinate the country's entire population against COVID-19 if a critical mass of people are given a shot to break the chain of virus transmission, and made it clear it had never spoken about inoculating everyone.
"I just want to make this clear that the government has never spoken about vaccinating the entire country. It's important that we discuss such scientific issues based on factual information only and then analyse it," Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan had said.
Mr Bhushan's remarks came three days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the three key facilities that are working on a vaccine. The Prime Minister's office said the visit was meant to help him get a "first-hand perspective of the preparations, challenges and roadmap in India's endeavour to vaccinate its citizens".
Last month the BJP was criticised after Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while launching the party's manifesto for the Bihar election, promised "free coronavirus vaccination for all".
The announcement was met with shock and indignation by opposition leaders, leaving the BJP fending off allegations that it was using the promise of a vaccine - for an infectious and fatal illness that has already killed over 1.21 lakh in India alone - for its political agenda.
This morning, India recorded 35,551 new COVID-19 infections, taking the country's coronavirus case tally to 95.3 lakh. Up to 526 people also lost their lives to the highly viral disease in this period. With this, a total of 1,38,648 people have lost their lives to Covid till now.