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'Mind the gap': Rahul Gandhi targets Centre over Covid-19 vaccination rate
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that there is a 27% gap between the actual vaccination rate and the government target for the same.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi once again took a shot at the central government on Saturday over the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccination rate in the country. Sharing a cumulative vaccination tracker graphic, Gandhi pointed out that India's actual Covid-19 vaccination rate is 27% below the government's target rate to avoid a potential third wave of the pandemic.
The graphic shared by Rahul Gandhi was sourced from information published by a Delhi-based news organisation. It tracks the actual cumulative vaccination rate in India, said to be 50.8 lakh vaccine doses a day, versus the vaccination rate targetted by the central government to avoid a potential third wave -- 69.5 lakh doses a day. Therefore, the Congress leader said, there is a 27% gap between the actual vaccination rate and the government target.
"Mind the gap!" Rahul Gandhi remarked, sharing the graphic from his official Twitter handle on Saturday.
Gandhi has been a harsh critic of the central government's vaccination policy ever since its inception. He has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on numerous counts, to end the 'shortage' of vaccine doses in the country. On Friday, he questioned the government on vaccine availability and said, "It's July already, yet there are no vaccines."
At least two Union ministers, including health minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan, hit back at the Congress leader over his tweet. The minister, in turn, had asked, "What is Rahul Gandhi's problem? Does he not read? Does he not understand?" The minister added that he had a day ago put out "facts" regarding vaccine availability for the month of July. "There is no vaccine for the virus of arrogance and ignorance," he remarked, adding that Congress must think about a "leadership overhaul".
Meanwhile, an acute vaccine shortage has been reported from various parts of the country. The Odisha government halted the vaccination drive in 16 districts due to a "shortage" of Covishield doses. Assam, on Thursday, said it could vaccinate only 16.63 lakh people in the last 10 days, almost 45% less than the target set by state chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, due to a massive shortage of Covid-19 vaccines.
