Tamil Nadu joins states floating global tenders for Covid vaccine

An official release said the central government has allocated 13 lakh vaccine vials to Tamil Nadu, which is not sufficient for vaccinating people in the age group of 18-44.

In line with other states, Tamil Nadu on Wednesday announced it will float global tenders to import Covid-19 vaccines for the 18-44 age group. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister MK Stalin at Kalaivanar Arangam in Chennai.

An official release said the central government has allocated 13 lakh vaccine vials to Tamil Nadu, which is not sufficient for vaccinating people in the age group of 18-44.

The Centre provides vaccines for those aged 45 and above, while for the others, it has instructed state governments to procure the shots directly from the manufacturers.

The release also said that following the request of CM Stalin, the Centre had increased oxygen allocation to Tamil Nadu from 280 tonnes to 419 tonnes, but the state requires more.

Stalin has instructed the industrial department and health and family department to make necessary arrangements to set up more oxygen production units, procure oxygen from steel plants in other states through trains, and distribute them to hospitals smoothly.

Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ma Subramanian, Finance Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan, Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management KKSSR Ramachandran, Minister for Industries Thangam Thennarasu, Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu, and other ministers and senior officials took part in the meeting.

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