In a series of sharp comments, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday hit back at opposition criticism of the ongoing vaccination drive and accused them of making “irresponsible statements”. The Health Minister asked the opposition leaders, without naming anyone specifically, to desist from giving in to “shameless urge to play politics” in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Health Minister took to twitter to urge these leaders to spend “more energy in planning and not in creating panic”.

“I’m seeing irresponsible statements from various leaders regarding the largest vaccination drive. Stating facts so that people can judge the intentions of these leaders,” he said.

‘Plan better’

“After GoI (Government of India) provided 75 per cent of vaccines available for free, vaccination speed picked up and 11.50 crore doses were given in June,” he said on twitter.

Also read: India overtakes US in vaccinating its citizens, says Harsh Vardhan

He said if the States are facing some issues, it shows that they need to plan their vaccination drives better.

“Intra-State planning and logistics are the responsibility of the States,” he said, adding, “If these leaders are aware of these facts and are still making such statements, I consider it most unfortunate. If they don’t know, they need to focus on governance. Will again request State leaders to spend more energy in planning and not in creating panic.

According to Health Ministry’s inoculation data published at 7 am on Thursday cumulatively 33.57 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive.

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