'Jumla' version of COVID-19 vaccine story will not save lives: Rahul Gandhi

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said actual vaccinations and not the "jumla (rhetoric) version" of the COVID-19 vaccine story would save lives and pointed out to the large number of people who are yet to be vaccinated in the country.

He shared an article by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in a newspaper which lauded Indian scientists and researchers on achieving the 100-core vaccination milestone but pointed out to the large number of people and children who are yet to be inoculated against COVID-19.

"Jumla-version of the vaccine story won’t save lives. Actual vaccination will," he said on Twitter using the hashtag "#DutyToVaccinate".

The Congress also shared on Twitter Sonia Gandhi’s article and quoted her, "The PM likes to emphasise that vaccines are free, while conveniently forgetting that they have always been free. It is the BJP government that moved away from India’s universal free vaccination policy."

Sharing the article on Twitter, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, "The floundering economy can be turned around if we can drive away the dark clouds of COVID19. That requires us to ramp up the pace of the rollout of vaccines to all, completely free, including to our children."

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also quoted the Congress president and said, "Not hollow announcements but genuine execution is the key to not only health of our citizens but wealth of our Nation".

"Vaccine for all..including our children.. usher in the festive seasonwith genuine optimism," he also said quoting Sonia Gandhi and shared her article on Twitter.

In the article "The vaccination milestone and a distant goal", Sonia Gandhi pointed out that the Government ought to realise that vaccinating all Indians as quickly as possible is linked to their health and progress.

"Our frontline health-care workers deserve our fulsome congratulations for crossing the milestone of 100 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. They, along with our scientists, researchers, medical professionals, and vaccine manufacturers, have heroically overcome multiple obstacles in the quest to protect our citizens from COVID-19. Thanks to their efforts, our vaccination drive has picked up pace after the initial months of delay, indecision, and confusion,” Gandhi has said in her article.

She also said that this milestone also marks the triumph of science and of India’s research and manufacturing infrastructure built and nurtured over decades.

The Congress president has also pointed out that the promise of all eligible Indians being doubly vaccinated by the end of 2021 is unlikely to be accomplished.

"The hollow announcement has not been accompanied by either appropriate planning or execution. Experts assert that we will miss this target by at least five to six months," she said.