The Rotary Club of Madras has donated equipment worth ₹1 crore to the government to preserve in cold chain and transport COVID-19 vaccines across the State.
It has donated two 14-ft refrigerated trucks with a capacity to carry 4,500 litres of vaccine (44 lakh doses) and two 8-ft refrigerated trucks with a total capacity of 2,000 litres (20 lakh doses) to transport the vaccine from the central vaccine depot to zonal depots.
The Rotary has also donated 15 ice-lined refrigerators to store 10 lakh doses of vaccine in district depots and 1,000 vaccine carriers that can be used to vaccinate up to 30 lakh people at a time.
The donors including Cookson, Godrej, SRF, Vinakaya Mission Foundation,Omega Healthcare, Rotary Clubs of Madhavaram, IT City besides Rotary Club of Madras, participated in the event held on Tuesday.
Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan, who received the donation, said the Rotary Club had been involved in the State’s health programmes since 1985 when the State took baby steps to implement the pulse polio immunisation programme. In 1995, it partnered again when the State started on an experimental basis to administer Hepatitis B vaccine. He said the organisation had again partnered during tsunami and helped build houses for the survivors.
“We have an MoU with the RCM. We have only two forms of protection. Using mask and preventive medicine. Though the vaccine is given free of cost, there is vaccine hesitancy in the State. Rotary’s help is a big relief. We have inter-district challenges,” Dr. Radhakrishnan said. “These include transporting vaccines to districts that are facing a shortage. At such times these vehicles will help. NGOs support in such times is helpful to amplify the issue,” he said.