Politics over the Covid-19 vaccination drive has gathered steam as electioneering picked up in four states and one union territory ahead of Assembly elections.
Election Commission wrote to the Health Ministry asking it to follow the model code of conduct “in letter and spirit” after Trinamool Congress (TMC) complained of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photograph over Covid-19 vaccination certificates.
Trinamool Congress had told the Commission that Modi’s photographs on Covid-19 vaccination amounted to “misuse of official machinery by the Prime Minister” and violated the model code of conduct.
Unfazed by the setback, BJP stepped up its attack on Congress and other opposition parties accusing them of causing delays in the vaccination process by questioning the efficacy of the home-grown Covaxin.
“More than 40 countries have placed orders for Covaxin. Nobody has any doubts about this vaccine, but Congress wants to play politics over it,” BJP spokesman Sambit Patra said.
He claimed that states such as Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Punjab had refused to use Covaxin for the vaccination drive, which he said was an insult to Indian scientists and a conspiracy to defame India globally.
President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were administered the Covaxin last week, which the government hoped could help shed the hesitancy towards the home-grown vaccine. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also received the Covaxin jab.
India's vaccination drive was slow in the initial phases when healthcare and frontline workers were given the jabs. The vaccination drive has picked up over the past few days in the latest phases when senior citizens and those in the age group of 45-60 with comorbidities were vaccinated.
According to the health ministry, West Bengal has administered 14.87 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccines to beneficiaries in the state, Kerala has inoculated 9.02 lakh, Tamil Nadu 7.61 lakh, Assam 3.57 lakh and Puducherry 17,501.