Vax stock adequate but inoculation numbers down, officials blame lockdown, communication gap

While the second wave is still raging in TN with over 35,000 fresh cases reported every day and several people waiting for a slot to get vaccinated, health care experts claim that there appears to be a communication gap which needs to be resolved soon.

Tamil Nadu has so far received a total of 12.85 lakh doses of vaccines for the age group of 18-44 from the orders placed through the State government. This includes 11.18 lakh doses of Covishield and 1.66 lakh doses of Covaxin. Public health expert Dr K Kolandaisamy said that the registration for vaccines on the government portals is much higher than availability of stock. “The demand of vaccines in all the age groups is high and the State does not have enough stock,” he said.

He added that further guidelines of the government on prioritising vaccination in the 18-44 age group were awaited hence government sites did not vaccinate people for past week.

“Now that the government order has come, the numbers are likely to improve,” Dr Kolandaisamy said.

The Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Dr T S Selvavinayagam said that the slow pace of inoculation was due to multiple factors, one of them being the lockdown. “Daily vaccination is less because of the complete lockdown, since the movement of people is restricted,” he said. However, the city police clarified that those heading for vaccination will not be stopped and allowed to travel upon showing some form of proof.

Meanwhile, a GO stated that vulnerable groups such as newspaper boys, milk vendors and distributors; street vendors, pharmacy and grocery staff; auto rickshaw and taxi drivers; bus drivers and conductors; EB staff, local body employees; workers in the e-commerce sector and essential industries etc would be given priority for vaccination.