CHENNAI: Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Monday wrote to his Union counterpart Mansukh L Mandaviya requesting him to provide additional 50 lakh Covid-19 vaccines to Tamil Nadu every week to increase the vaccination pace.
In his letter, the health minister said that after the success of the mega vaccination camps, the State is planning to conduct such camps once a week. “This will enable the State to vaccinate all the uncovered eligible population by October 31, apart from administering second doses to those who are due,” the minister said in his letter.
The State is easily capable of utilising 50 lakh vaccine doses every week -- 5 lakh doses a day for six days and 20 lakh doses for the mega camp on the seventh day of the week, he said.“I am glad to inform that the mega camp was a resounding success and the State could vaccinate a record 28.91 lakh eligible persons this Sunday,” the minister added.
The Union government, till 12 September, supplied 3.81 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines, the minister said. He also thanked the Union government for allocating adequate vaccines for mega vaccination camps, he said. The minister had written a letter on September 7 seeking additional vaccines for mega camps.
The State realises that, despite the levels of vaccinations achieved in the State, it still has a large eligible population yet to be vaccinated and this continues to make the State vulnerable for Covid-19, the minister said. Tamil Nadu has an adult population of 6.06 crore, out of which 4.01 crore received at least one dose of vaccine as on Sunday.
TN aware of vax position
Ma Subramanian said that Tamil Nadu realises that it still has a large eligible population to be vaccinated. This makes the State vulnerable to Covid-19