Cong. slams Centre over lack of vaccines
The Congress on Wednesday hit out at the Center over the lack of vaccines. Taking to twitter, Party General Secretary Ms. Priyanka Gandhi said, “India is the largest vaccine-producing country.
The BJP government marked ‘Tika Utsav’ on April 12, but did not make arrangements for providing vaccines and in 30 days there was an 82 per cent decline in our vaccinations.” The central government had marked ‘Tika Utsav’, a vaccination drive between April 11 and 14, with an aim to vaccinate the maximum number of eligible people against coronavirus amid a surge in cases. She also shared a graph showing that India was behind countries like the US, the UK, Turkey and France in terms of vaccinating citizens. She further said, “Modi ji went to vaccine factories, also got photographs clicked, but why did his government place its first order for vaccine doses only in January 2021? The United States and other countries placed orders with Indian vaccine companies long ago. Who will take responsibility for this?”
Several state governments have had to reschedule their vaccination plans due to slow availability of vaccines. In states like Maharashtra the emphasis has been to provide the second dose to people who have already taken the first dose. While several other states delayed the vaccination for the population in the age bracket of 18 to 44 years so that the second doses of 45 years and above could be completed. Meanwhile some states like Uttar Pradesh have already rolled out a global tender for vaccines while others are contemplating doing so.
The Congress has also attacked the Centre for levying high GST on products crucial in the fight against Covid-19 and sought an exemption for vaccines, Remdesivir and oxygen concentrators. The party also demanded that the government should provide exemption not only on the final product but also on the raw material being used. The Congress along with several other opposition parties have demanded an immediate convening of the GST Council meeting to rationalize taxation on the products essential to combating Covid 19.