Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin has urged Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan to increase the allocation of vaccines to the State and also increase the sub-allocation of vaccines for Government Institutions to 90 per cent.
In a Demi-Official letter to him, copies of which were released to the media, Stalin said Tamilnaduâs daily performance of vaccination has tripled during the current month and the vaccine availability has emerged as the principal constraint in the last few weeks.
He urged the Union Minister to evaluate the vaccine doses allotted to various States so far in terms of doses allotted per thousand population and ensure that necessary compensatory allocations are made to States who have been allotted lower number of doses per capita.
He also requested him to revise the inter-se allocation between the government and private institutions to 90:10 as against the current allocation of 75:25.
Pointing out that there has been pick up in vaccination drive after his government removed the hesitancy and made it a people’s movement resulting in vaccine constraints, Stalin the vaccine constraint was particularly significant for Tamilnadu since the allotment so far has been one of the lowest among the States in the country in terms of doses per thousand population.
Recalling the letter written to him seeking allocation of one crore doses to correct the inadequate allotment in the past, he said this has not been done and the incremental increase in allocation for June- July was just in line with the increases made available to other States, who had got higher allotment in the past and therefore have already vaccinated more people.
Reiteraring his earlier request, he said under the new liberalized vaccination policy, the Union Government is buying 75 per cent of the vaccines and the rest are being provided to private hospitals, to allow them to vaccinate better-off individuals on payment basis.
“While I agree that a part of the available vaccines has to be shared with the private institutions, I wish to bring to your notice the fact that this 25 per cent allocation to private hospitals is grossly higher when compared to the actual vaccinations done by them,” he noted.
In Tamilnadu, 1.43 crore doses have been totally used, out of which private hospitals have used only 6.5 lakh doses, which translates to just 4.5 per cent, Stalin pointed out.
Even in the current month, out of 43.5 lakh doses administered in the State, private institutions have contributed to only 4.5 lakh doses which is just 10 per cent, he said, adding, this mismatch between demand and supply in government and private institutions has resulted in a situation where the private hospitals in Tamilnadu have around 7-8 lakh doses available with them, which is equivalent to one month performance, whereas government institutions are left with just two
lakh doses which is lesser than their current single day usage.
This can be rectified only by a more rational and performance based distribution of available doses, Stalin said.
The allotment of 25 per cent of vaccines produced to private hospitals may be to incentivise manufacturers, by allowing them to sell a portion at comparatively better price.
“While this is acceptable, the need for a better blended pricing for vaccine manufacturers should not be allowed to undermine our immediate goal of vaccinating our people at the maximum possible speed,” he said, adding, this could be achieved by increasing allocation of vaccines to performing government hospitals.
“At the same time, it can be also ensured that vaccine manufacturers are not affected by the reduction in share to private hospitals, if the Union Governmentâs procurement price is increased, so as to ensure that the blended price under the new policy is the same as the current one,” Stalin said, while urging the Centre to ensure that the available vaccine resources are put to the best use possible in the shortest time.