Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said India needs quick and complete vaccination and not the BJP's "brand of lies and rhyming slogans" to cover up the vaccine shortage caused by the government's inaction.
He also alleged that the government was trying to save the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, attempts that are facilitating the virus and costing people's lives.
His remarks come as large parts of India appear to be emerging from a devastating second wave of COVID-19.
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"India needs quick and complete vaccination- not BJP's usual brand of lies and rhyming slogans to cover-up vaccine shortage caused by Modi Government's inaction," the Congress leader said on Twitter.
"GOI's constant attempts to save PM's fake image are facilitating the virus and costing people's lives," he added.
Gandhi also tagged a report that the government doubled the gap between the two doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine without the agreement of the scientific group that it said had recommended the increase.
Meanwhile, the Centre on Wednesday clarified that the Covaxin does not contain the newborn calf serum, saying the facts have been "twisted and misrepresented" in some social media posts.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan also said that the decision to increase the gap between two doses of the Covishield vaccine was taken in a transparent manner and based on scientific data.
"The decision to increase the gap between administering two doses of Covishield has been taken in a transparent manner based on scientific data. India has a robust mechanism to evaluate data. It is unfortunate that such an important issue is being politicised!" he tweeted and attached a statement from the government that quoted Dr NK Arora, the chairman of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), on the topic.
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