TN officials say they have adequate doses of COVID-19 vaccine, await arrival of Sputnik V

CHENNAI: In the wake of concerns over a vaccine shortage across the country, health department officials here said that Tamil Nadu has enough stock for the next seven days.

“We have 11,51,450 doses of Covid vaccines in Tamil Nadu right now. Of this, 9.4 lakh is Covishield and 2.1 lakh is Covaxin,” Director of Public Health Dr TS Selvavinayagam told The New Indian Express.

The health department chief said that all the 4300 institutions eligible to vaccinate people are equipped with stock and there is no shortage anywhere.

“For now, we have stock for seven days. We get stock regularly from the Centre, based on our three-day usage,” added Dr Selvavinayagam.

Meanwhile, some private hospitals in the city alleged that they were short of vaccines.

However, health department officials said that they were only distributing vaccines to private hospitals based on their track record of successfully inoculating patients.

“They have to show us their previous track record and need to update their vaccination list in the government portal. If their performance is 100 percent, we will definitely give them supply,” added a health department official.

Meanwhile, officials were hopeful for a boost in vaccination as Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine for coronavirus is set to hit the healthcare centres soon.

“It is said that the Sputnik vaccine is powerful with more than 90 percent efficacy. It is a good sign,” said Health Secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan.

He also urged private hospitals to report to the Health Department if they were short of vaccines.

On the other hand, many residents in Public Health Centres faced confusion as they were allowed for vaccination only based on the OTP number linked with their Aadhaar.

As many residents did not have their mobile phones linked to Aadhaar, they did not get OTPs.

“At least 150 of us were told to wait in the Guduvancherry PHC due to this issue. Doctors said from tomorrow they will not allow us for vaccination without the OTP number linked with Aadhaar,” said a resident, who had gone for vaccination.

Close to 4 lakh people have been vaccinated in Tamil Nadu so far.