Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said vaccination is the key to controlling the pandemic but the government of India does not seem to care.
The Congress leader was critical of the vaccine procurement policy and said the Centre should procure the vaccines and ask the States to distribute them to ensure that they reach every village.
“Why doesn’t the Central government understand this simple fact?” he asked on twitter.
Mr. Gandhi posted a graphic chart on his twitter handle to show how vaccination has substantially come down from April, when it was open only to the age group above 45.
“Vaccination is the key to controlling the pandemic but GOI doesn’t seem to care,” he said sharing the graph.
The graph showed the decline in the number of doses administered during April and May (till 20th) and how the average daily vaccination figure had dropped below the daily production.
Using Health Ministry data and news reports as the source, the chart showed while in April the average vaccination per day was 29.95 lakh, the daily production was 26.66 lakh doses. In May, while the average daily vaccination has fallen to 18.44 lakh, the daily production stood at 25.80 lakh doses.
Several Congress leaders slammed the Centre for asking States to directly negotiate with vaccine producers including foreign players like Pfizer and Moderna.
“Is there any surprise that Pfizer and Moderna have refused to deal with States [Punjab, Delhi]) and will deal only with the Central government? The Central government’s direction to the States to procure vaccines directly from the manufacturers abroad was a cynical move. If Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have not yet been ‘approved for use’ by the Central government, how will they deal with or sell to the States?” asked former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in a series of tweets.
“The government has rebuffed our advice and the suggestion of the courts that procurement of vaccines must be centralised. The Modi government is callous and cruel. Meanwhile, the shortage of vaccines will continue and the people will suffer and thousands will die. What a tragedy!” he said.
Senior leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “India was late to place orders because of overconfidence and hubris! The PM and his drumbeaters were busy tom-tomming their Vaccine Maitri initiative, which has flopped. The modified vaccine policy from May 1 is a massive cover-up to hide their bungling.”
