‘State cannot vaccinate its people until it gets fresh supply’
The Hindu
First lot of supply through Bharat Biotech only after June 6: Health Secy.
Tamil Nadu will run out of COVID-19 vaccines in two days and is likely to suspend vaccination services until fresh supply reaches the State, health officials have indicated. “The State has nearly 4.93 lakh doses of vaccines as of now. This will be sufficient for a maximum of two days,” Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan said. He said that on Monday, the Centre indicated that it would allocate 42.58 lakh doses of vaccines for Tamil Nadu for June. This was double the number of doses allotted for the month of May. “But the catch is that the first lot of supply through Bharat Biotech is only after June 6, and the other supply is likely on June 9,” he said. Indicating that the State stands the risk of suspending vaccination in the interim period, he said, “We will restart vaccination the moment we get supplies.” While the State had asked for supply from June 1, the Centre said that there were certain supply issues across the country and vaccines could be supplied only gradually. He noted that though vaccination was slow in the initial period in the State, many were keen on getting vaccinated now. “We have asked Collectors to fully utilise the available doses, to bring the services to a common point, issue tokens and administer the vaccines,” he said. The official said that the vaccine stock would turn nil in a number of centres in the State.More Related News