Citing Need For More Vaccines, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Says State Is Still Vulnerable To Covid-19

Ma Subramanian said that the state had administered vaccines to 28.91 lakh people during the mega vaccination drive on Sunday and added that the state was administering around 5 lakh doses daily

Chennai: Despite mega vaccination drive being a huge success, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian feels the state is still vulnerable to Covid-19 as a large number of eligible population still needed to be administered even the first dose, and hence the state could not relax on its achievements.

He mentioned this in a letter written to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya citing the need for more vaccines as an extra quota from the Central government.

In the letter written on Monday, the Tamil Nadu health minister requested the Union health minister to provide 50 lakh vaccines per week in addition to the present supply so that the entire population is inoculated with at least one dose of vaccine by the end of October 2021.

Tamil Nadu has an adult population of 6.06 crore and by Sunday after the mega vaccination drive it had inoculated 4.01 crore of its population with at least one dose of the vaccine.

The health minister in the letter pointed out that the population left out is a worry and hence the state health department cannot be complacent until at least one dose of the jab is administered to every eligible person of the state of Tamil Nadu.

Ma Subramanian said that the state had administered vaccines to 28.91 lakh people during the mega vaccination drive on Sunday and added that the state was administering around 5 lakh doses daily. He said that added to the number of people vaccinated during the mega vaccine drive the state has a capacity to inoculate 50 lakh people a week, and hence wanted to make the use of this opportunity.

The state health minister also said that Tamil Nadu will be organising such mega vaccination camps every week so that the entire population is covered by at least one dose of the vaccine.

He said that the direction and the support provided by the state Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has helped the state health department to conduct such a massive vaccination drive which was a landmark for the Tamil Nadu health department.

The minister thanked the Union health minister for supporting the state of Tamil Nadu with an adequate supply of vaccines and said that he was expecting more supply for conducting mega vaccination camps.

(With inputs from IANS)