No dearth of vaccine, Health Minister Mandaviya tells Rahul Gandhi

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandviya on Sunday advised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi "to feel proud at the tireless efforts" of health workers who have administered over 13 crore vaccine doses in July.

In a series of tweets, he also said that the vaccination drive will get accelerated from August and "we must feel proud of our health workers" for this feat, asking the Congress leader to express similar sentiments.

Earlier on Sunday, Gandhi took a dig at the alleged deficiency of Covid vaccines and slammed the government for not providing adequate stocks to the states and UTs. In a tweet in Hindi, he said: "July is gone, and vaccine shortage hasn't gone away" and used the hashtag 'WhereAreVaccines'.

To this, Mandviya responded: "India has administered over 13 crore vaccines in July. The vaccination drive against corona will be expedited from this month. We are proud of our health workers for this achievement. You also feel proud of India and health workers' achievement."

"I have heard that you are one in those 13 crores people who were vaccinated in July. But you did not speak a word for our scientists, did not appeal to the public to vaccinate. It means you are doing petty politics in the name of vaccination."

"Actually there is no lack of vaccines, you lack maturity," he claimed.

Meanwhile, Health Ministry data showed that a total of 60,15,842 Covid vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hrs, taking the total to 47,02,98,596 so far. In a tweet, the Health Ministry said that India has achieved the landmark in vaccination drive against the Covid pandemic, successfully having administered the vaccine to over 47 crore people across the nation.