Chennai, Jun 28 (IANS): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has written to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to reduce the Covid vaccines allocation to the private facilities in the state from 25 per cent to 10 per cent.

In the letter, Stalin said that there was underutilisation of the allocated vaccines by the private sector, adding that the 25 per cent allocation was very high as far as the sector was concerned and the volume of vaccinations conducted by them.

He said that in Tamil Nadu 1.43 crore vaccine doses have been used out of which the private hospitals have used only 6.5 lakh doses which was roughly 4.5 per cent.

Even in June, of the 43.5 lakh vaccines administered in the state, the private hospitals' contribution was just 4.5 lakh vaccines which was around 10 per cent, the letter said.

The Chief Minister said that there was a gross mismatch in the availability of vaccines between the government and private sector and added that the private hospitals in the state have an availability of 7-8 lakh doses of vaccine which is equivalent to one month's performance, while the government sector has only 2 lakh doses which would be administered in a single day.

He also urged the Union Health Minister to evaluate the doses allotted to various states 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.

Stalin had earlier written to the Centre seeking an allocation of one crore vaccine doses to make up for the inadequate allotment in the earlier days.