Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday said the anti-Coronavirus immunisation exercise in India will be completed before the end of this year. He was responding to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Covid-19 management and the slow pace of vaccination in the country. Javadekar also referred to the Union health minister’s statement from last week stating that India will be in a position to immunise at least all of its adult population by end of 2021. 

Gandhi held Modi’s “theatrics” responsible for the second Covid-19 wave and warned of more waves to come at the current rate of vaccination. The government launched the vaccination campaign in January with a goal of inoculating 30 crore of India’s nearly 140 crore people by August. But, as per the latest data, India has vaccinated 4.24 crore people, i.e. 3.1 per cent of its population, according to the OurWorldInData.