Tamil Nadu facing ‘vaccine shortage’ as CM writes to Dr. Harsh Vardhan
CM Stalin said, “Provide vaccines according to the population of Tamil Nadu to remove the shortage.”
M.K. Stalin, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, on Wednesday said that the state is facing a shortage of COVID-19 vaccines about which he has also written a letter to Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan.
Stalin took to his Twitter handle and said, “Provide vaccines according to the population of Tamil Nadu to remove the shortage.”
The Tamil Nadu CM also requested for using Chengalpattu Vaccine Production Center in this connection.
“I have also written a letter to Dr Harsh Vardhan,” he said.
The letter written by Stalin read, “I had written to the Hon’ble Prime Minister last week, stressing upon the need to immediately operationalize Integrated Vaccine Complex (IVC) at Chengalpattu, established by HLL Bio-Tech Ltd., under your Ministry. The representatives from our Government had also met you and discussed the feasibility of handing over the facility to the State Government, so as to enable it to identify a suitable private partner to operate it and commence the production at the earliest. Subsequently, it has been informed to us that the Union Government intends to bring in a partner on its own to operate the plant.”
“While I would like to reiterate our earlier request, I wish to highlight to you the urgency of the moment, given the need for immediate commencement of production. Irrespective of whether it is the Union Government or the State Government which is to find the partner to operationalise the plant, the need of the hour is to ensure that there is absolutely no further delay in the process. I once again assure you the unflinching and wholehearted support of my Government in putting this national asset to its full use,” Stalin wrote in the letter.
The CM said that Tamil Nadu had not received vaccines proportionate to its population size and case load and this can be corrected only by a special allocation of 50 lakh doses each under ‘Government of India channel’ and ‘Other than Government of India channel’.
Under the latest allotment, the state has been allocated 25.84 lakh doses under the former and 16.74 lakh doses under the latter, he said on the letter.
“I would also like to point out that this allotment is just commensurate with the broader increase at the national level and our request for a special allotment to correct the earlier lower allocation is still to be addressed,” he reiterated in the letter.
He requested the union heath minister to look into the issue and ensure that Tamil Nadu is allocated vaccines at levels comparable to other States.
He also outlined that the state has ‘almost’ exhausted the vaccines supplied to it and the vaccination program has come to a grinding halt. “I request you to prioritize Tamil Nadu and frontload the June month’s supplies from the first week itself. This would help us to recommence our vaccination drive and sustain the momentum generated by us in the last fortnight,” the CM Stalin wrote.
