Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Thursday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi after Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that the government of India never promised COVID-19 vaccine to everyone.
Taking to Twitter, the Congress leader said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had promised free vaccine to everyone in Bihar during election campaigning.
“PM — Everyone will get vaccine. BJP in Bihar elections — Everyone in Bihar will get free vaccine. Now, GOI — Never said everyone will get vaccine. Exactly what does the PM stand by,” asked Mr. Gandhi.
Mr. Gandhi’s tweet comes a day ahead of Mr. Modi’s meeting with Parliamentary floor leaders on Friday on the pandemic.
Though the specific agenda of the meeting has not been spelt out, there is speculation that the Prime Minister may discuss the government’s vaccine rollout plan.
On Tuesday, responding to a question at a press conference about how much time it would take to vaccinate the entire country, Mr. Bhushan said, “The government has never spoken about vaccinating the entire country”.
Elaborating on that statement, Indian Council for Medical Research chief Balram Bhargav said, “If we are able to vaccinate a critical mass of people, and break that virus transmission, then we may not have to vaccinate the entire population”.
