State to float global tenders to procure COVID-19 vaccines
Oxygen: More production units to be set up, officials told to buy from other states
CHENNAI: Global tenders would be floated for procurement of COVID-19 vaccines and all steps shall be taken expeditiously to inoculate those between the 18-44 age group, Chief Minister MK Stalin instructed his officials on Wednesday.
“The State government has been entrusted with the task of vaccinating people between the age groups of 18 and 44 but Tamil Nadu has been allotted only 13 lakh vaccines so far which will not be sufficient. To manage the shortage of vaccines, the Chief Minister has directed officials to take steps to procure vaccines from foreign countries and to place orders in pharmaceutical companies across the world,” stated a government release.
To address the shortage in Tamil Nadu, the Chief Minister held an emergency meeting with officials at Kalaivanar Arangam immediately after the Assembly session where the decision was taken. In the meeting, the government also decided to increase the number of oxygen manufacturing plants in the state, with the CM directing officials of health and industries department to take steps to acquire oxygen from other states to meet the rising demand of TN.
Southern Railway, meanwhile, said it has dispatched its first oxygen express from Tamil Nadu -Tiruvallur- to Odisha. The empty containers are likely to reach Rourkela on May 13, a press release said. On the arrival of the train in TN with oxygen, an official said, “Oxygen filled containers are expected to arrive in TN on May 16.”
Karnataka and Telangana are among the southern states that have decided to go in for global tenders to buy COVID vaccines. The Centre is providing vaccine doses to all states for vaccinating people above the age of 45 and the Union government has now said that states should go in for buying vaccines to inoculate those in the 18-44 age group. All steps shall be in place to vaccinate people in the 18-44 age bracket expeditiously, the release said. Though the oxygen allocation to TN has been increased to 419 tonnes from 280 by the Centre, the state required more of it, the release said.