Tamil Nadu seeks 50 lakh vaccines from Centre as 'special allocation'

The state has so far received 86 lakh doses of Covishield and Covaxin from the Centre for 45+ age group

Complaining that the state has not received vaccine doses proportionate to its population size and caseload, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin dashed off a letter to Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan seeking a “special allocation” of 50 lakh Covid-19 vaccines to “correct” the issue.

In the letter, Stalin also urged the Union Government to soon decide on the state’s request to take on lease the Integrated Vaccine Complex (IVC) on the outskirts of Chennai to produce Covid-19 vaccines through a private player. The IVC, which was built by HLL in 2012, is lying idle for the past nine years, though it can produce 600 million vaccine doses per annum.

“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,” Stalin wrote in the letter, a copy of which was released to media on Wednesday.

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He also reiterated his government’s “unflinching and wholehearted” support in putting the “national asset” to its full use. Stalin had last week written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to hand over the sprawling premises to the state government on lease, after which Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal had promised to get back in a week.

“…Tamil Nadu had not received vaccines proportionate population size and caseload 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,” Stalin told Dr Harsh Vardhan.

The state has so far received 86 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. Tamil Nadu has used 90.31 lakh doses as of Tuesday night, and the government is seeking more vaccines as people are coming out in droves to get vaccinated for the past week.

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In the letter, Stalin said 42.58 lakh doses have been allotted to Tamil Nadu for June, adding that this allotment is just commensurate with the broader increase at the national level and the state’s request for a special allotment to correct the earlier lower allocation is still to be addressed.

“I once again request you to look into this issue and ensure that Tamil Nadu is allocated vaccines at levels comparable to comparable states. Also, given the fact that we have almost exhausted the vaccines supplied to us and the vaccination programme 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,” Stalin said.