Vax shortage: Tamil Nadu health minister to meet Harsh Vardhan

Chennai: With vaccine stocks in the state touching almost zero on Tuesday evening, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian and a team of officials will hold a meeting with Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan in New Delhi on Friday.

A statement from the state health minister's office said that the minister and his team would be discussing with the Union Health Minister regarding the need for more vaccines to the state as well as the admission for MBBS course in AIIMS, Madurai as well as 11 new medical colleges in Tamil Nadu.

The state immunisation department announced that the vaccines are exhausted and fresh stocks are expected on July 11. The state health minister will request the Union minister to release vaccine doses at the earliest for Tamil Nadu.

Subramanian, according to the statement, will also be discussing with the Union Health Minister regarding admission to AIIMS, Madurai on the options of temporary accommodation for medical students admitted to AIIMS, Madurai as the college building construction is not complete.

The Tamil Nadu health minister said that it was an irony that when there was a heavy demand for vaccines from across the state, there was a shortage of vaccines.

He also said "Earlier in February during the regime of the AIADMK, Tamil Nadu had wasted 4 lakh doses of vaccines" and added that nurses used to open a vial even if there were four people for vaccination and the rest 6 doses would go waste. Now they use up to 12 doses from a vial thus leading to a saving of 1.4 lakh doses of vaccine.