New Delhi, Jul 15 (IANS): Congress leader P. Chidambaram has attacked the newly appointed health minister Mansukh Mandaviya and said the new minister is on the path of his predecessor.

Chidambaram in a statement on Thursday said, "The new Health Minister is treading on the same path as his predecessor. That is sad."

He said State after State is complaining of vaccine shortage. Vaccination centres have boards saying, "NO VACCINES". People standing in queues return home after vaccine doses are exhausted, he said.

"Are all state Health Ministers who have complained about vaccine shortage lying? Are newspaper and TV reports of people being turned away because there are no vaccine doses fake stories?

"The conclusion is that between the Centre and the States, the people are being made to look like fools." he said.

Chidambaram was reacting to the new health minister's statement that there is no shortage of vaccines in the country.

Meanwhile, India's cumulative Covid-19 vaccination coverage has crossed the landmark of 39 crore that includes 34,97,058 shots administered across the country in the past 24 hours.