Would not have had Covid vaccine situation if PM understood country's 'Mann ki Baat': Rahul Gandhi

Top Opposition leaders on Sunday targetted the Narendra Modi government on the "slow pace" of Covid-19 vaccination, with former Congress president Rahul Gandhi saying that had the country's 'Mann ki Baat' been understood, the situation would have been different.

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury also questioned the pace of vaccination as he pointed out that less than 10% of the country's adults have been vaccinated so far.

The remarks came as the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said the 43.31 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far. Around 45.37 crore vaccine doses have been provided to states so far while another 11.79 lakh doses are in the pipeline.

"Had you understood the country's 'Mann ki Baat', such would not have been the state of vaccinations," Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi with a hashtag "Where Are Vaccines".

He also shared a video along with his remark which sought to describe the slow vaccination rate, and media reports on people finding it difficult to get vaccines.

Also Read | Rahul Gandhi demands Covid vaccine timeline, says people's lives are on the line

The video sought to highlight that the required vaccination rate is 93 lakh per day and the actual rate in the last seven days is 36 lakh per day.

It also said the actual vaccinations on July 24 at 23 lakh per day with a shortfall today of 69 lakh per day.

Yechury tweeted, "Where are the vaccines PM Modi? In last 6 months less than 10% of our adults are fully vaccinated. To meet the year end target the current average daily vaccinations of 40L needs to rise to near 1 crore/day. Procure globally and accelerate vaccination drive on a war footing."

To a question raised by Rahul and Trinamool Congress MP Mala Roy in Lok Sabha on Friday, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar said that no fixed timeline can be indicated for the completion of vaccination drive.

However, she said in the written reply, the government expects that all those above 18 years will be vaccinated by year-end.