Panaji, Sep 22 (IANS): During his visit to the United States, Prime Minister Narendra Modi should lobby with the United Nations (UN) for global endorsement of India-made Covid vaccines, Covaxin and Covishield, South Goa Congress MP Francisco Sardinha said on Wednesday.

"The scientists have developed these vaccines. We are proud of them, but the government has shamed them and their efforts. When the PM goes to the US, he should go to the UN and make efforts to ensure that India-made vaccines are cleared," Sardinha told a press conference in South Goa's Margao town on Wednesday.

"What is the Union Minister for External Affairs doing? This is a shame for our scientists. They have worked so hard to invent these vaccines, but they are not accepted in several countries now," Sardinha, a former Chief Minister also said.

His comments come at a time when the United Kingdom has raised issues about the vaccine certification processes followed in India.

The Prime Minister has left for the US on Wednesday on a five-day visit and is also scheduled to attend the United Nations general assembly during his tour.

Sardinha also said that the BJP-led Goa government had committed daylight robbery by insisting that not a single person died due to oxygen shortage in the coastal state during the peak of the pandemic.

"The government has committed daylight robbery, when it said not a single person died due to lack of oxygen in Goa. I want to say that if someone had died in his own home, they would have known. How many children have died, plus around 80 persons have died (due to oxygen shortage). Even the Centre has maintained that not a single person had died due to oxygen shortage when in fact thousands have died," Sardinha also said.