'No ‘utsav’ in vaccine shortage': Rahul counters Modi slogan
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said the pandemic is too serious a matter to be called an ‘utsav’ (festival) and questioned the export of vaccines at a time when several states are complaining of vaccine shortage
Rahul Gandhi does not want to call the four-day COVID vaccination campaign as ‘tika utsav’ (from April 11) as urged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his discussion with chief ministers on April 8. The Congress leader said the pandemic is too serious a matter to be called an ‘utsav’ (festival) and questioned the export of vaccines at a time when several states are complaining of vaccine shortage.
The worst-affected Maharashtra has said it has stocks of vaccines hardly for two days as several districts have stopped inoculation. Media reports said Mumbai and Navi Mumbai have shut over 20 vaccination centres. The state’s Home Minister Rajesh Tope has appealed to the Centre to scale up the vaccination supply.
Also read: States tighten COVID restrictions as new cases in India touch record high
The special vaccination drive which the PM talked about begins April 11 and is aimed at inoculating the maximum number of eligible beneficiaries across the country.
On April 9, the Congress leader tweeted in Hindi to hit out at the ‘tika utsav.’ “The shortage of vaccines is a very serious issue and not an ‘utsav’. Is it right to export vaccines by putting the lives of the countrymen at risk? The Central government must help all states without any bias. We have to defeat this pandemic together,” Rahul said in his tweet.
Also read: Can resume vaccine exports by June if India’s situation improves: Serum chief
On Maharashtra’s surge of COVID cases, state health department principal secretary Pradeep Vyas has said if cases increase in this proportion, by April 17 the state could have around 568,000 active cases. “We are recording more cases than we predicted. The state has already recorded 50% more active cases during this wave, in comparison to the previous wave in September 2020,” he said.
The Ministry of External Affairs said on April 8 that India has not ordered any export ban on anti-coronavirus vaccines, adding that the supply of made-in-India vaccines abroad would continue while also taking care of the country’s needs.