The Covid-19 vaccination drive in Tamil Nadu, which picked up pace only last week, will continue uninterrupted with the Centre sending in 4.20 lakh doses of Covishield on Tuesday evening.
The state on Tuesday morning announced that it will stop the vaccination drive for a few days after it ran out of supplies sent by the Centre, and those it procured from vaccine manufacturers directly. However, Health Minister Ma. Subramanian said in the evening that the drive will continue uninterrupted as fresh supplies have come from the Centre.
“The stock that we have now will run out by Tuesday or Wednesday. We had decided to suspend the vaccination drive for a few days but since the fresh supplies have come, we will ensure that vaccination is carried out uninterrupted,” Subramanian told reporters here.
As many as 4.20 lakh doses of Covishield were sent by the Centre to be administered among those above the age of 45. Subramanian said the vaccine doses will be sent to districts by Tuesday night.
The state had as of May 31 received 82.49 lakh doses of Covishield and Covaxin from the Centre to be administered to those above 45 years of age, while 13.10 lakh was received from vaccine manufacturers under the state quota.
Vaccination drive, which was quite slow in Tamil Nadu, picked up pace in the past week with those belonging to 18-44 years of age coming in droves to get vaccinated. As of Monday night, 89.32 lakh doses had been administered to people in Tamil Nadu.
The Centre has increased the allocation to Tamil Nadu for June has been increased to 42.58 lakh. The state government has floated a global tender for buying 3.5 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines to be administered to those belonging to 18-44 years of age.
The state has also asked the Centre to give the Integrated Vaccine Complex (IVC) on the outskirts of Chennai to it on lease to produce vaccines by a private player.