Siddaramaiah attacks PM Modi for celebrating India's historic COVID vaccine feat

Following India’s historic feat pertaining to COVID-19 vaccination, the Congress party has yet again attacked the Centre. Creating a Twitter thread, Leader of the Opposition of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah asked why the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders were celebrating. Making comparisons to the vaccination numbers of other countries, Siddaramaiah claimed that India has a long way to go while '1 billion doses' sounds like a fancy number.

LoP in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, Siddaramaiah took to Twitter on Friday to attack the ongoing celebration around India’s incredible vaccination drive. Undermining the 100 crore vaccine number, the Congress leader said that only 21% of the total population has been fully vaccinated. He also slammed the BJP government and said that the bar for celebrating must be raised by the Centre.

“1 billion doses' sounds fancy number but the devil is in the details. Only 29 Cr people out of 139Cr are fully vaccinated, which means only about 21% are fully vaccinated. What are @BJP4India leaders celebrating for? For vaccinatimg just 21% of the population?” Siddaramaiah tweeted. “Only 29 Cr people have got two-doses & 42 Cr have got one dose, leaving 62 Cr without any single dose of vaccine. With just 29 Cr (21%) people fully vaccinated, India's position is still in danger. Are @BJP4India leaders celebrating India's vulnerability?” he said.

Cong leader says Centre started celebrations early

Further criticising the Centre for its ongoing vaccination drive, the Congress leader asked if PM Modi could ensure all Indians are fully vaccinated in the near future. “India still needs about 106 Cr doses to fully vaccinate the target by 31st Dec. This means 1.51 doses have to be administered every day. Is India prepared to handle this load & ensure all Indians are fully vaccinated by this year end? What say PM @narendramodi ?” he tweeted.

Siddaramaiah went on to compare India’s vaccination numbers with other countries and made attempts to show the current rate as failing. “In US - 56% population are fully vaccinated, in China, it is 70%, in Canada it is 71%. But India's fully vaccined coverage is just 21%. Mr. @narendramodi, let us raise the bar before celebrating!!” Furthermore, the Congress leader also said that there might come the need for a booster dose and asked if the government could ever manage to administer the same for a large population. He criticised the Centre and said that the leaders must stop celebrating and focus on the vaccination drive.

WHO Chief lauds PM Modi's effort

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday congratulated PM Narendra Modi as India created history and raced past the first world and other prominent nations by administering over 100 crore doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to its citizens. WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus while congratulating PM Modi on achieving this historic feat also went on to praise the efforts of scientists, health workers, and the citizens of the nation in making this process a wholesome one. The WHO Chief also went on to emphasise that the milestone that India had achieved was targeted towards vaccine equity globally. PM Modi took note of the praise bestowed upon by the WHO Chief and went on to cherish the friendship that the two leaders share.

Image: PTI