Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian told the media on Thursday, June 10, that thirty-six districts in the state have run out of vaccines. Addressing the media, the Health Minister said that the Union government has asked them not to divulge details about the same, labelling it ‘sensitive information,’ but that the TN government is sharing the ‘true scenario’ about the situation.
The state has till now received 1,01,63,000 vaccines and administered 97,62,957 vaccines, the Minister said. “The remaining vaccine stock of 1,060 vials is with Chennai and 36 districts have run out of vaccines. The Union government has said that they will send a consignment of 37 lakh vaccines. We are expecting 6.5 lakh does between June 10 and June 13. Once we receive them, we will distribute them to the districts,” Ma Subramanian told the media.
“We are telling you the true scenario about vaccines in Tamil Nadu, despite the Union government's instructions to us not to reveal details,” he said.
The Minister added that the government is probing allegations that there has been a ‘scam’ in the residential and food arrangements made for the doctors and healthcare workers.
“We were investigating this for the past 20 days. Till now, for a doctor or nurse, the food was supplied at a price of Rs 550 to Rs 600. We decided that if we buy good food from branded hotels, medical professionals will be happier. We spoke to these hotels and requested them to provide the meals as a service. Now, they will give meals to medical workers across Tamil Nadu at Rs 350, Rs 375 and Rs 450. In the case of housing, the medical professionals till date were staying at hotels for Rs 900 per day. However, now the prices at the same hotels have been reduced to Rs 750 per day,” the Minister added.
Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan told The New Indian Express that the state government is expected to hold a meeting with the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday, and, “we will know about the new vaccine policy then.”
The state is expecting 40,000 doses of Covaxin to reach on Thursday. A quantity of 3.6 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine is to be received by the state on Friday.
Tamil Nadu has so far received 1.01 crore doses under the state and Union government quota and 97.5 lakh doses have been administered. Three lakh doses of vaccines have been wasted since January 2021, according to the health department.