Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday urged the Centre to provide additional one crore COVID-19 vaccine doses for a mega vaccination camp scheduled to begin from September 12.
Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian in a letter to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya requested for an additional one crore COVID vaccines along with the equal number of 0.5 ml of AD Syringes or 1ml/2ml syringes to the state.
This is in addition to the already-committed 1.04 crore vaccines for government COVID-19 vaccination centres, he said.
He pointed out that as a next step to increase the COVID-19 vaccination drive in the State, it was decided to conduct the "Mega Vaccination Camp on COVID Vaccination" on a weekly basis, starting from September 12.
"This was to cover the left-out unvaccinated eligible population aged above 18 years in the State without diluting the daily vaccination drive," said the state minister.
Subramanian further said that the Government of India, till September 5 has supplied 3,31,84,824 doses of COVID vaccines and 1,83,95,400 (0.5ml) AD Syringes to the state.
"The eligible population above 18 years in Tamil Nadu for two doses of COVID Vaccination is about 6.06 crore. Till date September 5, the state has covered the first dose of 2.63 crore beneficiaries and 68.91 lakh beneficiaries vaccinated with both doses in government COVID vaccination centres," he said.
The state is vaccinating about 5 lakh doses per day for the last seven days. Considering the current pace of vaccinations the current supplies are adequate for only three to four days making it difficult to plan for covering the eligible left out population.
"The remaining eligible population above 18 years in Tamil Nadu who need to be vaccinated with the first dose Is 3.44 crore and the persons due for the second dose due is about 18.89 lakhs as on September 5. This was already represented to the Union Health Minister during the recent meeting in New Delhi on September 3," said the Tamil Nadu health minister.
The Tamil Nadu Minister recalled that during the meeting, the Union Health Minister also agreed and impressed on the need to ensure 100 per cent vaccination in all schools, colleges and to cover the left-out unvaccinated eligible population on a priority and time-bound basis and promised all assistance in this regard.
"Considering the continued higher positivity and higher number of cases reported daily in the neighbouring state of Kerala, the issue of vaccinating all eligible persons in the bordering districts was also mentioned during the interactions," he said.
During the meeting, Union Health Minister asked the state to aim and ensure 100 per cent vaccination for all the left out the unvaccinated eligible population on a priority basis in all the nine bordering districts to the State of Kerala including Coimbatore, Dindigul, Kanniyakumari, Tenkasi, The Niligiris, Theni, Tirunelveli, Tiruppur and Virudhunagar in the State. It is estimated that 65. 76 lakh population in the nine districts have to be given the first dose of vaccine.
The state is hence planning to further increase the pace of vaccinations and realises that the large unvaccinated eligible population continues to make the state vulnerable for COVID cases, despite all other measures.
He also expressed gratitude towards the Centre for the continuous support in the fight against COVID-19 and also for ensuring an uninterrupted supply of COVID vaccines to Tamil Nadu.
( With inputs from ANI )
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