Hours after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav termed coronavirus vaccines to be rolled out in the country as "vaccine of the BJP", National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Saturday said that he will happily get vaccinated against COVID-19 as vaccines do not belong to any political party, but humty.
Abdullah asserted the virus has been "too disruptive" and the vaccine only can bring about a semblance of normalcy.
Taking to Twitter, the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister said, "I do not know about anyone else but when my turn comes I will happily roll up my sleeve and get a Covid vaccine. This damn virus has been far too disruptive and if a vaccine helps bring about a semblance of normalcy after all the chaos then sign me up."
"The more people that get vaccinated the better it will be for the country and the economy. No vaccine belongs to any political party, they belong to humty and the sooner we get vulnerable people vaccinated the better," he said in another tweet.
Earlier in the day, Yadav had said that he will not get vaccinated against coronavirus for now as the "BJP government cannot be trusted".
"I will not take the COVID-19 vaccine at this moment. That too given by Bharatiya Janata Party. How can I trust BJP's vaccine, not a chance. When our government will be formed, everyone will get a free vaccine. We cannot take the BJP vaccine," said Akhilesh during a press conference in Lucknow.
Yadav's response comes after Dr Shekhar Mande, Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) said the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and would not have adverse effects and urged people not to hesitate to take it.
"I want to assure everyone that the vaccine is very safe. It has cleared all safety trials and there are no adverse effects. People should not hesitate in taking the vaccine," Mande told .
Mande also said, "If Dr Harsh Vardhan said the dry run was a success in four states, that is the most authentic voice of the government. This is a very good development and should set the country on track for vaccination as soon as approval is granted."
According to the Union Health Ministry, the objective of the dry run is to "assess operational feasibility in the use of COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN) application in a field environment, to test the linkages between planning and implementation and to identify the challenges and guide the way forward prior to actual implementation".
( With inputs from ANI )
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