CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Minister Ma Subramanian on Saturday said the Centre allotted 1.40 crore Covid-19 vaccines to the State for November and appealed to members of the public to take part in the vaccination camps being conducted by the Health Department.
The increase in the monthly allotment by the Centre follows the performance of the department in vaccination over the last few months, the Minister for Medical and Family Welfare said here.
Stating that the Centre has been sending sufficient vaccines to the State, Subramanian said there was demand for vaccines in May, June and July.
"Following the Tamil Nadu government's performance and based on the request by Chief Minister (M K Stalin), the Union government enhanced the allotment of vaccines for September, October and November," he said.
In September, over and above the monthly allotment of 104 crore doses, an additional 43 lakh vaccines were released by the Union government and the doses were increased by three lakh to the allotted 122 lakh for October, he said.
"For November, based on the request by the Chief Minister, 1.40 crore doses have been allotted," he told reporters. The Minister requested the people to extend their cooperation towards ensuring Tamil Nadu as the first State to vaccinate 100 per cent of its population with the first dose and 50 per cent with the second dose by November-end.
Stating that the third wave of Covid-19 was posing a threat to countries like the United States, China, Russia and Singapore, Subramanian appealed to everyone to come forward to get inoculated since vaccination camps have been set up closer to the residential areas for the convenience of the public.
Till date 5.73 crore people in the State have been inoculated. Of this, 70 per cent have received the first dose while 29 per cent of them second dose, he said.