TN Chief Minister M K Stalin writes to Union Health Minister to increase allocation of vaccines for Govt. hospitals to 90% from 75%; Reduce allocation for private hospitals from 25% to 10%

Coimbatore: The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M K Stalin has written a letter addressed to the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, requesting to increase the allocation of vaccines to Tamil Nadu and also increase the sub-allocation of vaccines for Government institutions to 90 percent.

In his letter, the TN CM said, "At the outset, I would like to thank you for accepting our request on the Union Government procuring Covid vaccines centrally and issuing them free of cost to all States for all eligible beneficiaries above 18 years of age. This decision and my Government’s continuous efforts to eliminate vaccine hesitancy and transform the vaccination drive into a people’s movement have ensured that Tamil Nadu’s daily performance of vaccination has tripled during the current month. The availability of vaccines has emerged as the principal constraint in the last few weeks, after the above pick up in vaccination. 

This is particularly significant for us since our allotment so far has been one of the lowest among the States in the country in terms of doses per thousand population. I had written to you requesting an allocation of 1 crore doses to correct the inadequate allotment in the past. This has not been done and the incremental increase in allocation for June-July is 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. Hence, I reiterate that earlier request, and also would like to draw your attention to another issue which requires your immediate intervention," added M K Stalin.

"Under the new liberalized vaccination policy, the Union Government is buying 75 percent 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 percent allocation to private hospitals is grossly higher when compared to the actual vaccinations done by them. In Tamil Nadu, 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 percent. 

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 percent. The above mismatch between demand and supply in Government and private institutions has resulted in a situation where the private hospitals in Tamil Nadu have around 7-8 lakh doses available with them, which is equivalent to one month's performance whereas Government institutions are left with just 2 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," opined the TN Chief Minister.

He further said, "The allotment of 25 percent 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. This can 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 Government’s procurement price is increased, so as to ensure that the blended price under the new policy is the same as the current one."

The Chief Minister hence requested the Government in the letter to evaluate the vaccine doses allotted to various States thus 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 and revise the inter-se allocation between the Government and private institutions to 90:10 as against the current allocation of 75:25.