Sonia, Rahul Gandhi don't trust Indian Covid-19 vaccines; yet to get jabs: Prahlad Joshi

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Tuesday claimed the Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have not taken the Covid-19 vaccine as they do not have confidence in Indian vaccines.

Joshi also accused the Congress leaders of raising questions on the efficacy of the vaccines and later making a beeline for the jabs.

“As per my knowledge, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi have not taken vaccine. They do not have confidence in Indian vaccines,” the minister said.

The Modi government accused Congress leaders of first demanding a greater say for state governments in procurement and distribution of vaccines and making a U-turn after failing to meet the challenge.

As senior Congress leader P Chidambaram admitted that he was wrong in claiming that no state government had demanded that it should be directly allowed to procure vaccines, Chidambaram referred to the letter written by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee demanding that the state government be allowed to procure vaccines directly.

Also Read | Free Covid-19 vaccine for all above 18 years from June 21: Modi

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan hit back at Chidambaram saying he should also acknowledge that the former Congress President Rahul Gandhi had made a similar demand.

“As always, it's the 0usual suspect, the forgetful & self-contradicting crown prince ...Sh Rahul Gandhi ji. Of course, staying true to Congress’ ethos, he did a complete U-turn later, receding on his earlier demand & then asking Centre to get the task done,” Vardhan said.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh saw nothing wrong in Gandhi’s letter to the Prime Minister demanding greater say for states in procurement and distribution of vaccines.

“You should decide on vaccine procurement and on vaccine distribution after having a consultation with the state governments. I can say this with the fullest of confidence, no Chief Minister would have opposed the Union Government procuring the vaccines,” Ramesh said.

Congress demanded that the Modi government share a roadmap on providing vaccines to all by December.

Ramesh said to vaccinate all Indians by December, the government will have to administer 80 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccines every day.

“The Prime Minister did not shed any light on that in his address to the nation, but, that is very important, how we reach 80 lakh doses per day when we did 16 lakh per day in May,” Ramesh said.

Check out DH latest videos: