Only two to three districts in Tamil Nadu have stocks of COVID-19 vaccines, while there is nil stock in the remaining 34 districts, Ma. Subramanian, Minister for Medical and Family Welfare said.
“We have so far received nearly 1.01 crore doses of vaccines of which 97.35 lakh doses were administered. We have 23,000 doses in hand. Of this, Chennai has 16,000 doses followed by about 4,000 doses in Coimbatore. The vaccines are available in two to three districts, while there are zero doses in 34 districts. About 3 to 3.5 lakh doses of vaccines were wasted during the first wave,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
For June, the State should receive nearly 42 lakh doses from the Centre’s pool of which 5.5 lakh doses were already supplied, he said, adding: “We should receive another 36.5 lakh doses of the vaccines. The Centre has released a supply schedule today.”
The 5.5 lakh doses of vaccines that were received earlier were distributed to districts in 10 hours. In the last three days, these vaccines were administered, including in rural parts of Tamil Nadu. This particularly covered tribal areas, the Minister said.
Referring to the Prime Minister’s announcement that the Centre would supply vaccines for persons aged above 18 years from June 21, the Minister said that more vaccines should be supplied, and the supply should be based on population.
Already, the State has paid ₹99.84 crore to the Centre to get vaccines for the 18-44 age group, he said. “Under this, we have received 13 lakh doses, and should get nearly 16.5 lakh doses more,” he said.
To a question on the second dose of vaccine being delayed for many persons, the Minister said instructions were issued to give priority to persons who are waiting to get the second dose of vaccine and administer the same on time.
Vaccine supply schedule
According to the vaccine supply schedule for June, the State will receive 16,74,380 doses (13,43,820 doses of Covishield and 3,30,560 doses of Covaxin) for the 18-44 age group and 25,84,380 doses (21,55,180 doses of Covishield and 4,29,200 doses of Covaxin) for the above 44 years category. The vaccines would be supplied in batches throughout the month.
