Shashi Tharoor credits govt for Covid vaccine milestone, his colleague Khera says ‘insult to millions who suffered’

India achieved a major milestone in its vaccination programme against Covid-19 as the cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country surpassed the 100-crore mark on Thursday. Stating that India has scripted history, Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in the day called the vaccination milestone a triumph of Indian science, enterprise and collective spirit of 130 crore Indians.

Speaking at an event, PM Modi also said that the country now has a strong “protective shield” of 100 crore vaccine doses to combat the biggest pandemic in 100 years.

Reacting to the achievement, Tharoor tweeted, “This is a matter of pride for all Indians. Let’s give the Government credit.”

He further said that after severe mismanagement of the second Covid-19 wave and botching the vaccination orders, the government has now partly redeemed itself. “It remains accountable for its earlier failures,” he added.

In response, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said giving credit to “the government is an insult to millions of families who suffered and are still suffering from the after-effects and side effects of widespread Covid-19 mismanagement”.

Giving credit to govt is an insult to millions of families who suffered and are still suffering from the after effects & side effects of widespread Covid mismanagement. Before seeking credit, PM must apologise to those families. Credit belongs to scientists & medical fraternity https://t.co/TVqaWxRRMU

— Pawan Khera (@Pawankhera) October 21, 2021

“Before seeking credit, the PM must apologise to those families,” he said, adding that the credit belongs to scientists and medical fraternity.

India, according to the government, has administered five times more doses than Japan, nine times more than Germany, and ten times more than France. While it took 85 days to administer the first 10 crore doses, it completed the last 10 crore in just 19 days. According to the Health Ministry, the average doses per day has improved to 60 lakh after June 21, when the Centre took over the vaccine procurement and supply. It was earlier 18 lakh per day.

India, according to Covidvax.live, also has the highest speed of vaccination, administering 35 lakh doses per day, which is 22 lakh more than US and 28 lakh more than Japan.

With PTI inputs