Tamil Nadu, which has fared quite badly in vaccinating its people, Thursday opened up vaccination for those in the age group of 18-44 after it received supplies of Covishield and Covaxin it had ordered on its own.
Chief Minister M K Stalin launched the vaccination drive at a health facility in the knit wear hub of Tiruppur during his visit to western districts. The state has so far received 9.62 lakh doses of vaccine from Serum Institute of India (SII), and Bharat Biotech Limited from its orders.
“These will be used to vaccinate those between 18-44 years of age. We are expecting more supplies in the coming days and we hope the drive will go on without any break,” an official said. While the state government will fund the vaccination for 18-44, the Centre has provided vaccines for those above 45 years of age.
Tamil Nadu had last week floated a global tender for procuring 3.5 crore vaccines and it plans to vaccinate a total of 5 crore people. The state's vaccination drive is quite slow with just 70.5 lakh people getting their jabs so far.
(Published 20 May 2021, 13:51 IST)
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