Coronavirus cases: Chidambaram says COVID-19 will win the race on slow vaccination drive

New Delhi, Mar 18: Lamenting the slow pace of vaccination in the country, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday said at this rate the virus will win the race and attacked the government for having "failed" in the vaccination rollout.

"The central government has failed miserably in rolling out the vaccination to Indians," he said, urging the government to allow walk-in vaccination on demand. "Is there any wonder that the number of infections is rising rapidly every day," he asked.

Chidambaram said he shared pride that India exported 5.9 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines. "At the same time, I am disappointed that we have administered only 3 crore doses to Indian citizens.

"At this rate the race between the virus and the vaccination will be won by the virus," he said on Twitter.

"The government should allow walk-in vaccination on demand and get rid of bureaucratic hurdles including pre-registration," Chidambaram said. India on Thursday recorded 35,871 new COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day rise in over 100 days, which took the infection tally to 1,14,74,605, according to Union Health Ministry data.

A total of 3,71,43,255 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered through 6,15,267 sessions, as per the provisional report till Thursday 7 am.