Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clarify its different statements over inoculation of the anticipated vaccine against Covid-19, amid the pandemic which has affected millions in the country.
Gandhi took to Twitter and cited different statements of PM Modi, the ruling government and Bharatiya Janata Party in regard to the Covid-19 vaccination establishment programme and asked what does the Prime Minister stand by.
He wrote that the PM said everyone will get a vaccine, while BJP in Bihar elections promised free vaccines to everyone in Bihar. And now the government claimed that it never said everyone will get a vaccine, exactly what does the PM stand by, questioned the Congress MP.
Gandhi’s attack at PM Modi came days after the central government clarified that it had never spoken about inoculating everyone with the anticipated coronavirus vaccine.
During a media briefing on Tuesday, Health secretary Rajesh Bhushan had said that if a critical mass of people are given a vaccine shot to break the chain of the virus transmission, there may not be a need to vaccinate the entire population of the country against the Covid-19 vaccine.
Bhushan made it clear that the government had never talked about vaccinating the entire population against the novel coronavirus disease. It is important that discussion over such scientific issues take place based only on factual information and then analysed, he added.
At the same press conference, the ICMR Director-General Dr Balram Bhargava, said the inoculation will depend on the efficacy of the vaccine. The purpose is to break the chain of transmission, if we are able to vaccinate a critical mass of people.Then the entire population may not have to vaccinate, he said .
Last month, while campaigning for Bihar bypolls, BJP promised free vaccines to the residents of Bihar. The announcement drew sharp reactions from the Oppositions, while most of them said that making a vaccine to fight disease a political agenda was appalling.
Meanwhile, the country’s Covid-19 caseload went past 95 lakh on Thursday With 35,551 new cases, the total case reached to 95,34,964, while the total fatalities mounted to 1,38,648 with 526 new death cases.