Union minister Piyush Goyal slams Rahul Gandhi over ‘July is here, where are vaccines’ tweet, calls it ‘petty politics’

Piyush Goyal slammed Rahul Gandhi for indulging in “petty politics” and said that 12 crore vaccine doses will be available in the month of July.

New Delhi: Union minister Piyush Goyal on Friday (July 2) hit back at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for his remark on COVID-19 vaccines. Gandhi, who is quite active on Twitter and often uses the medium to pose questions to the Narendra Modi-led central government, took to the microblogging site and wrote, “July has come, vaccines have not arrived.” He followed the tweet with the hashtag ‘Where Are Vaccines’. 

Retweeting Gandhi’s tweet, Minister of Commerce and Industry slammed the former Congress chief for indulging in “petty politics” and said that 12 crore vaccine doses will be available in the month of July. 

“12 crore vaccine doses will be available in July - separate from supply to private hospitals. States have been informed about supply 15 days back. Rahul Gandhi should understand that petty politics, instead of seriousness, is not right in the fight against COVID," Goyal said in a tweet in Hindi. 

वैक्सीन की 12 करोड़ डोज़ जुलाई महीने में उपलब्ध होंगी, जो प्राइवेट हॉस्पिटल्स की आपूर्ति से अलग है। राज्यों को 15 दिन पहले ही आपूर्ति के बारे में सूचना दी जा चुकी है।

राहुल गांधी को समझना चाहिये कि कोरोना से लड़ाई में गंभीरता के बजाय इस समय ओछी राजनीति का प्रदर्शन उचित नही है। https://t.co/xmDqtrLcLI

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) July 2, 2021

Congress including Rahul Gandhi frequently pulls up the government over shortage of vaccines. As per PTI report, on Thursday, Odisha halted vaccination drive in 16 districts due to 'shortage' of Covishield doses. Many state governments have alleged that the scarcity of COVID-19 vaccines is impacting the vaccination drive in the state and have urged the Centre to provide more jabs. 

Meanwhile, the Union health ministry on Thursday informed that total vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed the 35 crore mark. So far 9.61 crore vaccine doses have been administered to beneficiaries in the age group of 18-44 years. 

Eight states including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra have administered the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine to more than 50 lakh beneficiaries in the 18-44 age group. 

(With agency inputs)