Measles vaccine was procured by Centre: TN

Chennai, The Tamil Nadu government today said AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa's charge that it procured inferior quality measles vaccine was false as the vaccine stocks were provided by the Central government.
"It is the Central government which procures the vaccines and supplies it to state governments. The Centre had procured the medicine from the Human Biological Institute, Hyderabad. The vaccine was manufactured in February 2008 and its expiry date is January 2010. Hence her remarks that the state administered outdated vaccines to the infants is not true," an official press release said today.

It also denied that the cold chain was broken due to frequent power cuts. All Primary Health Centres had been provided generators for back up in case of power cuts. The temperature under which the vaccines were kept was also, continuously monitored, it said.

The Central team, which visited primary health centres from which the vaccine was administered had said that the medicine was maintained properly, the release said.

Jayalalithaa had yesterday charged the DMK government with procuring inferior quality vaccines at a cheaper rate.

Five infants, four in Tiruvallur district and another in Dharmapuri district died after being administered measles vaccination, leading to the suspension of the measles vaccination programme in the state.