CHENNAI: Clarifying on the allegations of the unavailability of Hepatitis B vaccine at the healthcare facilities in the State, the Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Dr TS Selvavinayagam stated that Tamil Nadu has 5.19 lakh Hepatitis B vaccines and 4.63 lakh Pentavalent vaccines in stock as on Friday.

Under the Universal Immunisation Programme, 11 vaccines are provided to pregnant women and children. Every year, 9.58 lakh pregnant women and 8.76 lakh newborns benefit from this programme.

“The state has consistently achieved 99% immunisation coverage, said Dr Selvavinayagam.

The Hepatitis B vaccine is given to children within 24 hours of birth. Additionally, it’s provided as a Pentavalent vaccine at 6 weeks, 10 weeks, and 14 weeks after birth. “Hepatitis B coverage was 99% from April-November 2204, which is 5.63 lakh out of 5.68 lakh newborns. The Pentavalent vaccine coverage was 94%, which is 5.47 lakh out of 5.84 lakh children,” he added.

Over 9.73 lakh doses of Hepatitis B vaccine are required, and the health department has 5.19 lakh doses in stock currently. At least 29.20 lakh doses of pentavalent vaccine are required, and around 4.63 lakh doses are in stock.

All the empanelled private hospitals in Tamil Nadu have been facilitated through eVIN and UWIN to provide the vaccines. All the District Health Officers have been instructed to provide the vaccines free of cost to the required private hospitals and clinics.