Many Tamil Nadu districts reel under vaccine shortage

Tamil Nadu Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar has said there is a stock of 8.8 lakh corona vaccine doses and several districts in the state have reported a shortage of vaccines even as Covid-19 cases witness a resurgence.

Coimbatore reported 727 fresh Covid-19 cases in a single day on Sunday but the number of people who took the vaccine dropped from 7,850 on Saturday to 918 on Sunday.

While the Coimbatore Corporation officials maintained that 9,550 Covid vaccine jabs were available, residents complained that the vaccines were in short supply.

In Avinashi, Udumalpet and Palladam, people had to return owing to the non-availability of the vaccine jabs.

Jagdish Kumar, Deputy Director of Health services, Tiruppur, speaking to IANS said,"In a day or two we will get adequate number of vaccines and the issue will be sorted out."

In Madurai and Nagapattinam, the vaccination camps which were to be held on Sunday were cancelled following shortage of vaccines. In Trichy district, the state Health department allocated 2,000 doses of Covaxin to various vaccination camps in the district. However, Madurai was the worst-hit district in terms of vaccines in short supply.

There were complaints in Chennai that private hospitals have sent back people without being vaccinated though they had registered on the CoWIN portal for taking the vaccine jab.

However, state health authorities and corporation officials have put up a brave front saying that vaccines are available in sufficient numbers.

G Prakash, Chennai Corporation Commissioner, speaking to IANS said,"There is no such shortage of vaccines in Chennai. We are not for wasting the vaccine and a vial is opened only if there are 10 people ready to get vaccinated so that there is no wastage."

If a vial is opened, it has to be used within three or four hours or it would be wasted.

Tamil Nadu Health minister, C. Vijayabaskar, speaking to IANS said,"We have adequate stock of vaccines and are looking into the issues facing certain districts of Tamil Nadu. However, I can assure that there is no major issues as far as vaccines are concerned."