Covid-19 vaccine for CM, legislators likely: Tamil Nadu Health Minister

Beneficiaries aged above 50, the Chief Minister, Ministers, MLAs and journalists are likely to be vaccinated against coronavirus soon, Health Minister C Vijayabaskar indicated in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Thursday.

Replying to ruling party legislator, S Semmalai, who sought to know when the vaccination could be made available to the general public and the MLAs, the Minister said so far, about 1,33,000 frontline workers have been vaccinated.

The state has received 12.34 lakh plus doses of Covid-19 vaccines and over 8.50 lakh beneficiaries including health, police and revenue employees have been identified, he said. Hesitation in getting any vaccine administered was usual and in order to bring a sense of confidence among the beneficiaries he and Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan got the 'Covaxin' jabs and many district collectors have volunteered to get the vaccine administered, he said and thanked them.

As per norms, the vaccination was now being provided for frontline workers and had the Union government allowed, the Chief Minister, Ministers and the Speaker could have been vaccinated, giving confidence to the people, he said.

"The government has sent a proposal to the Centre to provide vaccination for beneficiaries aged above 50, the Chief Minister, Ministers, MLAs and journalists," he said. A favourable reply was likely from the Centre in a week or two and then MLAs and other proposed beneficaries would be vaccinated free of cost according to the Chief Minister's directive, the Minister said.