Over 47,000 sites for Covid vaccination identified in TN, says AIADMK

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government is all geared up to start the vaccination drive for Covid-19 and has identified 47,209 vaccination session sites across the State, the AIADMK said at an all-party meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss Covid situation across the country on Friday. The party also urged the Centre to share its execution plan for vaccination with the State governments. 

Speaking at the meeting, AIADMK MP P Ravindranath said, “Based on the gap analysis, a total of 1,144 ice-lined refrigerators, 992 deep freezers, 10 walk-in-coolers, 10 walk-in-freezers and 10 refrigeration vaccine vehicles have been requested for Tamil Nadu from the Centre. Further, supplies of certain equipment are in the pipeline of the Centre. The State has also established 51 walk-in coolers in the districts capable of storing up to three crore doses,” Ravindranath said. 

Subjects regarding procurement of vaccine, syringes and cold storage transportation issues, etc., have to be clarified in advance whether they would be handled entirely by the Centre or whether some of them have to be handled by the States. Further, the States should be notified in advance whether the consignments are going to be delivered at one place in the State or at district levels, so that cold chain transportation can be adequately planned in advance, Ravindranath said.  

As regards vaccine trial in Tamil Nadu, Ravindranath said the ICMR and the DCGI have given approval for conducting Phase III clinical trials for Covidshield vaccine at two sites. The Phase III efficacy trial for fully indigenous vaccine Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech International Limited in Collaboration with ICMR and National Institute of Virology, would be conducted this month.

“The evaluation of safety and effectiveness of nCoV vaccine of Cadila Healthcare Limited is under consideration.  The State government has already announced that Covid vaccination would be provided free of cost to all in Tamil Nadu as and when it becomes available,” the AIADMK MP added

DMK demands
Participating in the meeting, DMK parliamentary party leader TR Baalu said the cost of vaccination might be huge and, therefore, it should be provided free of cost to all people.  “If the average cost of Covid vaccine per person is estimated at a nominal price of Rs 1,000, the government would have to spend Rs 3.9 lakh crore for this purpose.

As of now, if two doses of vaccine need to be administered, the cost would come around Rs 2.6 lakh crore.  This should be borne jointly by the Centre and State governments as well as the Public Sector Undertakings. As far as private organisations, the Centre should pass an order that these companies should allocate the corporate social responsibility fund for this year entirely for this vaccination. So, the vaccination should be done free of cost for all,” Baalu said. Baalu also recorded his objection to the Hindi speeches rendered by the Union Minister and Secretary on vaccination.