Chennai, Jun 27 (IANS): Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and AIADMK Chief Coordinator, O. Panneerselvam has called upon Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to expedite lakhs of vaccines that are lying unused in private hospitals of the state with immediate effect.

In a statement on Saturday, the senior leader said that the state would need 16 crore more vaccines and as of June 26, only 1.44 crore doses of vaccine have been administered to the public.

OPS said, "This means that less than 10 per cent of the state's residents have received both doses of the vaccine."

He said that 13.59 lakh doses of vaccine have been allotted to private hospitals in Tamil Nadu during the months of May and June and that over 8 lakh doses of vaccine are still to be administered. He said that in July again 17.75 lakhs of vaccines are to be given to the private hospitals.

The former Chief Minister said, "This means that the private hospitals will have over 25 lakh vials of vaccine". He said the people of Tamil Nadu approach government hospitals for vaccination as it is free of cost and called upon the Chief Minister to make necessary arrangements to use the unused vaccine vials of private hospitals and distribute them among the government hospitals so that more common people are vaccinated.

On the closing day of the Assembly Session on Wednesday, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had lashed out against the previous AIADMK government in not properly managing the Covid pandemic and cited examples as to how his government was managing and controlling the second wave of the pandemic.

The response of the former Chief Minister Panneerselvam is being seen by political observers as a response to Stalin's outburst in the Legislative Assembly.