Union Minister and senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar today said over 108 crore people would be vaccinated against Covid by December, thus marking the culmination of India’s vaccination programme.

Slamming Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his scathing observations on vaccination strategy and use of word “nautanki” (drama) in reference to PM Narendra Modi, Javadekar said India would get 216 crore doses to vaccinate over 108 crore people by December. Asking Rahul “not to spread fear among people” by talking of “third, fourth, and fifth wave”, the minister said India was second country globally to carry out the fastest and largest inoculation programme.

Rahul Gandhi, Congress

At current vax pace, 3rd wave inevitable

PM exported vaccines…. 2nd wave is a result of his theatrics. At today’s pace, vaccinations will conclude by May 2024, but by then we will have multiple waves.

“At a time when PM Modi is leading the fight against Covid, the use of words like “nautanki” for him is an insult to the country and its people. We will not use such words for him (Rahul) because people have stopped his “nautanki” long time back,” Javadekar said. He called Rahul’s today’s press conference a “proof of the ‘toolkit’ prepared by the Congress to tarnish the government’s image”.

Addressing the media virtually, Rahul claimed the current rate of vaccination guaranteed a third wave and the PM and the government had not yet understood the disease that was evolving fast, nor did they have an inoculation strategy to prevent future waves.

“At today’s pace, vaccinations will be completed by May 2024, but by then we will have multiple waves and people will remain vulnerable,” the Congress leader said, defending his recent tweet where he called Covid “Movid”, in an attack on PM Modi and expressing concern over 3 per cent inoculation coverage in India.

Javadekar questioned Rahul saying considering the importance he was giving to vaccines now, why did he and leaders of his party raise questions regarding Covaxin. “The PM opted for Covaxin to put a full stop on all questions,” he said.

Covaxin maker Bharat Biotech on Friday said it was working to ramp up production, but the process was time consuming. “The timeline for manufacturing, testing and release for a batch of Covaxin is approximately 120 days, depending on the technology framework and regulatory guidelines to be met.