On Rahul Gandhi's Vaccine Criticism, Minister Brings Up Punjab, Rajasthan

Rahul Gandhi has maintained that the second wave would not have been so deadly had the government ensured easy access to vaccines.

Union Minister Hardeep Puri on Saturday hit out at top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who has been raising concerns over the Covid vaccine shortage in the country and the pace of the inoculation drive.  "Rahul Gandhi asks where the vaccines for our children are. Vaccines are in the garbage in rajsatahn and in Punjab, profits are being made out of vaccines. This is the culture of the Congress," Mr Puri said during a press conference. The Amarinder Singh-led Congress government in Punjab found itself at the centre of a storm this week after Sukhbir Badal, chief of the opposition Akali Dal, said the state government had re-sold 40,000 doses of Covaxin at "hefty margins". Mr Badal said the doses had been purchased at Rs. 400 per dose and sold to private hospitals for Rs. 1,060 per dose - a "profit" of Rs. 660 per dose. The hospitals sold it at Rs. 1,560 per dose. Soon after the backlash, the Congress government on Friday withdrew the order providing "one-time limited vaccine doses to 18-44 age group population through private hospitals".