Tamil Nadu health minister MA Subramanian on Thursday said that the state intends to inoculate 1.5 million (15 lakh) people during the third mega vaccination camp against Covid-19 to be conducted in the state on Sunday (September 26). The minister’s announcement came after the state surpassed its vaccination target during two such mega camps held previously this month.
On September 20, chief minister MK Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking for 5 million additional vaccine doses every week to the state to achieve the target of inoculating all uncovered eligible beneficiaries by October 31. He has also stressed that such mega camps need to be conducted regularly along with daily vaccinations in TN in order to overcome the low vaccination coverage in the state.
Also read | Stalin writes to Modi seeking 5 million more Covid-19 vaccine doses per week
Subramanian also claimed that the Union government did not release enough vaccine doses for the state over the last few days. However, due to the efforts by the state government, such as the letter by Stalin to Modi and also state health secretary J Radhakrishnan calling on the Union health ministry, 500,000 vaccines were received by the state on Wednesday (September 22), he added.
“Following the meeting of DMK Parliamentary party leader T R Baalu with Union health minister (Mansukh Mandaviya), we are expecting 14 lakh vaccines to be released to the state. With the arrival of these vaccines, we will be holding third mega vaccination camp coming Sunday targeting to inoculate 15 lakh people through 20,000 vaccination camps,” news agency PTI quoted Subramanian as saying, earlier in the day.
{{/usCountry}}“Following the meeting of DMK Parliamentary party leader T R Baalu with Union health minister (Mansukh Mandaviya), we are expecting 14 lakh vaccines to be released to the state. With the arrival of these vaccines, we will be holding third mega vaccination camp coming Sunday targeting to inoculate 15 lakh people through 20,000 vaccination camps,” news agency PTI quoted Subramanian as saying, earlier in the day.
{{/usCountry}}As many as 2.198 million people were immunised in the first mega camp, organised on September 12, surpassing the target of 2 million people. Similarly, the second mega camp was conducted on September 19, aimed at 1.5 million people, and 1.643 million people received the vaccines, thus surpassing the target again. As of 7am on the day, 43,508,265 doses of the vaccine have been administered in the state, according to the Union health ministry’s data.
Meanwhile, 1,682 people tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday and 21 more people lost their lives to the disease. With this, the total confirmed infections in the state reached 2,650,370 and the death toll climbed to 35,400, the state health department’s bulletin showed.
(With PTI inputs)