Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday dubbed the covid-19 shot as “BJP vaccine” and said he won’t take it.
“How will I trust a vaccine that will be used for vaccination by BJP? We can’t get vaccinated by BJP’s jab,” he told reporters in Lucknow.
Yadav said the Samajwadi Party will return to power in Uttar Pradesh after the 2022 state assembly polls and then the covid shot will be given free.
Akhilesh Yadav’s ‘BJP vaccine’ remarks drew a rebuttal from the ruling party, which said he was “insulting” doctors and scientists of the country.
Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said: “Akhilesh Yadav does not trust the vaccine, and people of UP do not trust him.”
“His statement is an insult to doctors and scientists and he should apologise,” Maurya added.
A trial drill to supply the vaccine began on Saturday in a bid to identify challenges in delivery.
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