Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday questioned the central government for shipping COVID-19 vaccines across the world instead of using them to inoculate Indians.
"The Modi government has exported vaccination doses to 84 countries. If you count the amount of doses exported, you'll know that it is higher than the number of vaccine doses given to the people in India. Should we care about people from our own country or from other countries?" AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadhasaid said.
India's central government is ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) while its rival AAP governs Delhi.
Chadha said it would take at least 15 years to vaccinate the entire population (over 1.30 billion as per government statistics) if the vaccination drive continues at its current pace.
"Some scientists say that to contain the virus at least 70 percent of the population has to be vaccinated. It will take 10 years to inoculate 70 percent of the population of the country if the vaccination continued at the current pace and vaccinating everyone in the country will take about 15 years," he said.
According to the country's federal Health and Family Welfare Ministry, over 79 million people had been vaccinated as of Sunday night. Healthcare workers (HCWs), frontline workers (FLWs), and people aged above 45 have been priorities so far.