The Union government has sanctioned 1,23,09,370 more doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Tamil Nadu for October, Health Minister Ma. Subramanian said on Friday.
Since the start of the vaccination drive on January 16, the highest number of vaccine doses were administered in September, including during the three mega vaccination camps, he said, adding: “The Union government had fixed an allocation of 1,04,98,000 doses for September. Following our performance including at the three mega camps, it allocated an additional 37.68 lakh doses. So we administered 1,42,66,000 doses in September.”
Recalling that Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had written to the Prime Minister and the Union Health Minister, seeking 50 lakh doses of vaccines a week — two crore a month — the Minister said the government had sanctioned 1,23,09,370 doses for October, with the first lot expected by Friday evening, he told reporters after launching a month-long breast cancer screening camp at the Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital.
Fourth mega camp
Mr. Subramanian said a few days ago, they had announced that a fourth mega vaccination camp would not be held this Sunday, as officials and employees of the local administration would be involved in organising grama sabhas.
After officials of the district administration and Health Department expressed willingness to make arrangements for the camp, it has been decided that the fourth camp will be held on Sunday.
“We have 24,98,365 vaccine doses in hand and will organise 20,000 camps on the day,” Mr. Subramanian added.
He added that the aim was to achieve a first-dose coverage of 75%-80% by the end of October.
“In the last mega camp, 10 lakh people received their second dose. We request all those due for their second doses to take it soon — after a 28-day gap for Covaxin and 84 days for Covishield. We have five to six lakh doses of Covaxin in hand and are distributing to all camps,” the Health Minister said.
Holiday for health staff
Monday will be a holiday for the health staff involved in the mega camp, he added.
Taking part in an event to mark the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day, the Minister said there were 318 blood banks in the State (98 State government banks, 10 Union government blood banks and 212 private ones), 393 government blood storage centres and 155 private blood storage centres.
A total of 778 blood donation camps were held through government blood banks from April to August this year, through which 1,18,363 units of blood have been collected, the Health Minister said.
