When will government provide COVID-19 vaccine booster shots: Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said a large population of the country is still not vaccinated against COVID-19, noting that only 42 percent of the population will be vaccinated by December end against the required rate of 60 percent to prevent the third wave of coronavirus.

He also asked the government to provide booster shots.

Sharing data about vaccinations, Gandhi there is a daily shortfall of 55.3 million doses (one million is equal to 10 lakh).

"Majority of our population is still not vaccinated. When will GOI begin booster shots? #VaccinateIndia," he said on Twitter.

The former Congress chief said that going by the current vaccination rate, 42 percent of the population will be vaccinated by December 2021.

"Aim stop a 3rd wave.Target 60 percent of population with both doses by December 2021.Required vax rate (vaccinations per day) 61 million/day. Actual last 7 days (vaccinations per day) 5.8 million/day. Daily Shortfall in last 7 days (average bad shortfall per day) 55.2 million/day," said the data shared by him.

The data also stated that "while the actual vaccinations today (Dec 22 (vax in previous 24 hours) 5.7 million/day, the Shortfall today (vax shortfall in the previous 24 hours) 55.3 million/day".

Gandhi and his Congress party have been critical of the government's vaccine strategy and have demanded that vaccinations be speeded up to prevent another wave of coronavirus.

There are also growing concerns over the spread of the new Omicron variant of the virus in the country.