Enough vaccine stock for seven days: Health dept

CHENNAI: Officials of the health department said enough vaccines are available in the State for the next seven days.

Director of Public health Dr TS Selvavinayagam said, “11,51,450 doses of vaccine are available with us as of April 13. This comprises 9.4 lakh doses of Covishield and 2.1 lakh of Covaxin.” The public health official also said there is a regular supply of vaccine from the central government.

It may be recalled that several private hospitals in Tamil Nadu are up in arms against the government for vaccine shortage.

A senior official of the health department, when asked about a private hospital’s plea that they don’t get enough vaccines, said, “We provide vaccines to those hospitals who have a better track record in inoculating people.”

The official added that the private hospitals have to update their inoculation history in the government web portal and the department will provide vaccines only if the performance is a hundred per cent.

The State Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan is pitching hopes on the Sputnik vaccine from Russia. The senior IAS officer said, “It is learnt that the Sputnik vaccine has 90 per cent efficacy and this will give a boost to the vaccination drive.”

Primary Health Centres are insisting on an OTP sent to the mobile number linked to the Aadhaar card and with most of the rural populace not having that, they were not able to be vaccinated.

Doctors have, however, told this rural populace that they will be inoculated without an OTP in the coming days.