Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday claimed that India could have achieved the milestone of 100 crore Covid-19 vaccinations six months ago, not now as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced, if the Central government had not allowed the export of vaccine doses and had made adequate arrangements for the supply of vaccines to the states when India itself was faced with vaccine shortage.
India kick-started the vaccination process on 16 January and in April and May it suffered a massive spike in Covid-19 positive cases and recorded a large number of fatalities (up to four lakh daily cases at one time and 4,000 deaths).
In a tweet, Sisodia said, “While feeling proud of having achieved the milestone of 100 crore vaccine doses having been administered, we must remember that if the Central government had got busy with making vaccine supply arrangements in time and had not indulged in getting applause by exporting vaccine doses when India was facing a shortage, then our medical teams could have achieved the milestone of 100 crore jabs at least six months ago.”
100 करोड़ वैक्सीन लगने पर फ़ख़्र करते हुए हमें यह भी याद रखना चाहिए कि अगर केंद्र सरकार समय रहते वैक्सीन के इंतज़ाम में लग गई होती और विदेशों में वैक्सीन भेजकर वाहवाही लूटने के लालच में न पड़ी होती तो हमारी मेडिकल टीमें छह महीने पहले ही 100 करोड़ का लक्ष्य हासिल कर चुकी होतीं.
— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) October 22, 2021
The Prime Minister had said in a tweet yesterday, “India scripts history. We are witnessing the triumph of Indian science, enterprise and collective spirit of 130 crore Indians. Congrats India on crossing 100 crore vaccinations. Gratitude to our doctors, nurses, and all those who have made efforts to achieve this feat.”
According to the figures provided by the Delhi government, so far over 70 lakh people have been administered both vaccine doses. This means that around 40 per cent of the city’s total adult population has been fully vaccinated.