The Tamil Nadu government on Monday, 17 May told the Madras High Court that it is planning to cover 70 per cent or 2.5 crore of its population in the 18 to 44 age group during the first phase of the universal adult vaccination drive against COVID-19.
The state said that Tamil Nadu’s total population in the age group 18 to 44 years is estimated to be 3.65 crore.
Appearing before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ranamoorthy, Advocate General R Shanmugasundaram said the government would require five crore doses of the vaccine to provide two vaccine shots to 2.5 crore people.
He said that government had planned to procure 1.5 crore vaccine doses from the two domestic manufacturers of the vaccines as per the allocations made by the Centre and the rest of 3.5 crore doses through global tenders. The remaining 30 per cent (1.15 crore) population would be covered in the second phase, The Hindu reported.
On his part, Additional Solicitor General R Sankaranarayan informed the court that the Centre had allocated 5.89 lakh doses of vaccine to Tamil Nadu to be supplied during the second fortnight of May. The allocation included 4.99 lakh doses of Covishield and 89, 290 doses of Covaxin.
Meanwhile, the state’s principal Opposition party All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has decided to donate 1 crore to Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund (CMPRF) to help the state fight against the virus.
In addition, the party’s MLAs and MPs would also donate a month’s salary towards the fund, a statement issued by AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam and co-coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami read.
Last year too, during the first wave of the pandemic, the party had donated Rs 1 crore to the relief fund. Actor Rajinikanth also donated Rs 50 lakh to the chief minister’s relief fund, on Monday.
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