Text of Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin’s letter to PM Narendra Modi seeking a special allocation of 1 crore vaccine doses to the State:

I invite your kind attention to my earlier letter dated 27-05-2021, wherein I had requested your immediate intervention in making a special allocation of Covid-19 vaccines to Tamil Nadu to correct the disproportionately low allocation made to the State, in terms of doses made available per thousand eligible population.

Till 8-7-2021, the State has received only 29,18,110 vaccines from Government of India, for the people in 18-44 years category and 1,30,08,440 vaccines for the above 45 years category.

As the allocation of vaccines is very inadequate, we are finding it extremely difficult to meet the huge demand for vaccination throughout the State.

The success of my Government’s efforts to eliminate vaccine hesitancy and make the vaccination drive a mass movement now squarely rests on the doses made available to us.

In this connection, I would like to point out that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India in its affidavit filed in the Supreme Court of India in suo moto W.P. (Civil) No.3 of 2021, have specifically submitted that the States have been allocated the available vaccine quantity in proportion to the population between 18-44 years of age of the respective State so as to ensure equitable distribution of vaccine.

However, Tamil Nadu has not received vaccines proportionate to its population size resulting in the current acute shortage of vaccines.

The number of vaccine doses provided to our State is only 302 per thousand eligible population. This is very low when compared to the vaccine doses made available to comparable States like Gujarat, Karnataka and Rajasthan, which are at 533, 493 and 446 respectively.

Hence, I once again, request your immediate personal intervention to correct the above imbalance in the vaccine allocation for Tamil Nadu and make a special allocation of 1 crore vaccine doses, so that we are able to vaccinate the targeted population in the shortest possible time.

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