Health Minister Ma. Subramanian has appealed to companies to offer free COVID-19 vaccines through private hospitals.
At the launch of the Institutes of Hernia Surgery and Abdominal Wall Reconstruction at Apollo Hospitals here on Friday, he said the hospital had asked the government to off-take 5 lakh doses of Covaxin that it had. He urged the hospital to use its CSR funds to administer the doses free as it did in Karur some time ago.
Appeal to Reliance
Subsequently, the Minister made an appeal to the Reliance Group, which had earlier given free fuel to 1,303 EMRI 108 ambulances and free food to frontline workers, to extend its CSR funds for the free vaccination of people with the 5 lakh doses of Covaxin that Apollo Hospitals had.
The State required nine crore more doses to fully vaccinate all citizens. As of now, it had vaccinated over 2.74 crore people, including those who had been vaccinated at private hospitals. In a few days, around three crore doses would have been administered.
The State had approached the Union government and sought 90% of the doses to the government and only 10% to private hospitals, he said. The suggestion was made as most people were hesitant to pay huge sums for the vaccination, and the State was running short of Covaxin.
Fully vaccinated
Mr. Subramanian said that in Ariyalur district, all 6,981 pregnant women and in Pudukottai district all 11,625 differently abled people had been vaccinated. In 60 villages, all eligible residents had been vaccinated. In Kodai, all 23,681 people in the over 18-year-old group had been inoculated.
