At current pace, vaccination would be completed in 18 years: Congress hits out at Centre

Congress also alleged that the government was using vaccination numbers to divert attention from the resurgence of Covid-19 across India

The Congress on Sunday launched an attack on the Modi government criticising the 'slow pace' of Covid-19 vaccination in India, saying that at this pace, it would take 18 years to complete the immunisation.

Addressing a press conference, Rajya Sabha member Shaktisinh Gohil also alleged that the government was using vaccination numbers to divert attention from the resurgence of Covid-19 across the country.

“Nearly three crore vaccine shots have been administered till now, In March, 95 lakh persons got the vaccine and only 47 lakh persons have received both the doses of vaccine,” Gohil said. “What is absolutely unfathomable is the fact that vaccines are not in short supply. It is the total mindlessness in execution and implementation that has caused this situation to arise,” he said.

“If we continue at the current pace, it will take 12.6 years to administer both doses to 70 per cent of the population and about 18 years to achieve 100 per cent vaccination,” the Congress leader said.

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Gohil also demanded that state governments be given greater freedom in the vaccination exercise. The Congress leader further alleged that the poor have been left out of the vaccination, with nearly 90 per cent of the beneficiaries in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru belonging to middle and upper class.

“The poor, in addition to the established traditional disabilities, are being doubly disadvantaged because of being on the negative side of the digital divide,” Gohil said.

He sought to know whether the government had stepped up genome sequencing to identify mutant variants of the coronavirus amid a surge in new Covid-19 cases. Gohil also asked the government to speed up the vaccination drive and complete it within a year.