Congress UP chief Ajay Kumar Lallu wants CM Yogi to take first shot of COVID vaccine

Even as the Centre is all set to hold a massive vaccination drive on January 16, Congress UP chief Ajay Kumar Lallu has cast aspersions over the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine and said that CM Yogi Adityanath should take the first dose. Speaking to ANI, Lallu opined that in order to ensure the safety of people and to build trust in minds of citizens regarding the vaccine, CM Yogi should be the first one to take the vaccine shot. The UP Congress has also decided to gherao the Raj Bhavan over farm laws issue. 

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Akhilesh Yadav: 'Won't take BJP's vaccine'

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, said that 'I will not get vaccinated, that too on BJP's vaccine (COVID-19), as I don't trust it,' at a press conference in Lucknow. He also added that when his government comes to power, the vaccine will be provided free. "I will not get vaccinated, that too BJP's vaccine. I don't trust it. When our govt will come, the vaccine will be free. We will not get BJP's vaccine," said Akhilesh Yadav. Uttar Pradesh currently has 5,86,751 COVID-19 cases, 5,64,541 recoveries and 8,379 fatalities. 

RJD leader and MLA Tej Pratap Yadav has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should first take the vaccine shot. Questioning the efficacy of the vaccine, he said that after PM Modi the rest of the country can take the vaccine. His statements are in line with the statements given by Congress leader Priyank Kharge who asked PM Modi to take COVAXIN shot before administering it to civilians. 

READ | PM Modi Should Take COVID Vaccine First, Then We'll Also Take It: RJD's Tej Pratap Yadav

Congress' Manish Tewari questions vaccine

Speaking to ANI, Congress MP Manish Tewari questioned the vaccine approval by DCGI and slammed the BJP government."The BJP government has politically misused the COVID-19 pandemic in its entirety. The controversy over the vaccine is its latest manifestation. Who is going to get himself vaccinated with a vaccine that has question marks on its reliability? The BJP government has done a great disservice to that company which must have invested crores of rupees in research and development. In their quest to prove their 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' they have licensed a vaccine whose phase III trials are not complete. They are thinking about their short term political gain. They are not bothered about the lives of 130 crore Indians,"

Congress leader Priyank Kharge said that the Congress party "is just demanding the data and wants the procedure to be followed." He further said that if the Prime Minister thinks that the Covaxin vaccine is good enough, "then he should first get injected with it and should not experiment with others."

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