After India set vaccination record, PM Modis fever jibe at Opposition

India set a new record by administering more than 2.5 crore COVID vaccines in 24 hours. A day after, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a jibe at the opposition while asking a question to a Goan health worker on Sunday. “I have heard of vaccine beneficiaries developing side effects. However, for the first time I saw that a political party developed fever late last night after India achieved its vaccination record. Is there any logic to this?” he asked.

The health worker, Dr Nitin Dhupdale, however, responded saying that they had informed beneficiaries of the possible side effects after vaccination and the remedy in such cases. 

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted virtually with healthcare workers and vaccine beneficiaries in Goa on Sunday morning.

“Goa is playing an important role in the success of the world’s largest and fastest vaccination drive. In the past few months, Goa fought bravely against heavy rainfall, cyclone and floods under the leadership of CM Pramod Sawant,” PM Modi said during the virtual interaction. 

He went on to thank healthcare workers for carrying out India’s mega-vaccination drive. He further enquired about the problems they faced. 

“We did not want to send anyone back from the centres without getting vaccinated. So we kept the centres open till the evening. We called up people personally to ask them to get vaccinated and even created a provision for the elderly and disabled to be vaccinated inside vehicles,” one Goan health worker said in response.

“I would like to appreciate all doctors, medical staff, people in administration in the country. With your efforts, India made a record of vaccinating 2.5 crore people in a single day. Even countries that are considered prosperous and powerful could not do it,” he said.

He continued, “More than 15 lakh vaccinations every hour, over 26,000 vaccinations every minute and more than 425 vaccinations every second were administered yesterday.”

The Prime Minister announced that it has been decided to grant free visas to 5 lakh tourists visiting India in a bid to promote tourism.