Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday said the Government of India had to answer why India was facing a vaccine shortage despite being the world’s largest vaccine manufacturers.
As part of an online campaign ‘Zimmedar kaun?’ (Who’s responsible?), Ms. Vadra posted a 30-second video on her Twitter handle, where she posed a series of questions to the government.
“Why is India, one of the largest manufacturers of vaccines in the world facing a scarcity today? Why was the first order of vaccines by the government of India placed in January 2021 when other countries began placing their orders in the summer of 2020?” Ms. Vadra asked.
“Why did our government export six crore vaccines between January and March 2021 while vaccinating only 3.5 crore Indians during the same period of time. The government of India owes the people of India answers. We have to ask them questions and they have to answer us,” she added.
Her latest attack on the Centre’s vaccination policy comes a day after her Facebook post, in which she attacked the Narendra Modi government for inconveniencing millions of Indians. Quoting government figures, she said that the Modi government opened vaccination for the 18-44 years age group on May 1.
“This group approximately has 60 crore people but the government ordered only 28 crore doses of vaccines that would fully vaccinate 14 crore people,” she argued.
Targeting the government for poor planning, she said the teeka utsav (vaccine festival) was announced in the middle of a nightmare when COVID-19 had peaked and people were running from pillar to post to save their loved ones. “Within a month of its announcement, the number of vaccinations fell by 83%,” she said.