India Post News Service
CHICAGO: Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr., U.S. Civil Rights Leader and the Founder & President, Rainbow Push Coalition, spoke to Tamil Nadu’s Finance Minister Dr. Palanivel Thiagarajan (PTR), from Madurai, India in a zoom call today May 21, 2021 and assured all possible help to fight Corona epidemic
RevJesse Jackson Sr., along with Dr. Vijay G Prabhakar, the Global Ambassador of Rainbow Push Coalition are camping at Washington D.C. to ensure that at least 60 Million doses of Astra Zeneca Vaccines (from the Excess Reserve) are shipped to India at the earliest.
Dr. PTR, the finance minister of TN, India’s Southernmost state, made a passionate plea at the direction of Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister Mr. M.K.Stalin, to Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., to request the U.S. President Biden to expeditiously release an allotment of Astra Zeneca vaccines for India (Including a portion ear-marked to the State of Tamil Nadu) from the 80 Million Vaccines that the U.S.A has offered to donate overseas.
Dr. PTR conveyed the gratitude of the people of Tamil Nadu and of Chief Minister Mr. M.K. Stalin to U.S. Civil Rights Leader Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., and the Rainbow
Push Coalition’s Global Ambassador Dr. Vijay G Prabhakar for their relentless crusade to assist India, including the State of Tamil Nadu, during this COVID Pandemic.
Dr.PTR stressed that Covid vaccines are immediately needed for the 80 Million population of Tamil Nadu, and that the case for allocation to Tamil nadu is based on:
- Tamil Nadu has the best medical infrastructure with one medical doctor for every 300-400 People, and access to primary Health Care in almost every village. And can ensure that mass Vaccinations of Astra Zeneca be administered effectively in a timely manner.
- Tamil Nadu is the second largest economy in India with the highest number of industrial workers and highest urbanization (~50% of the population), which makes the impact of vaccination higher than other states.
- With its efforts and a robust public health system, they have managed the spike in daily cases (as measured by cases per million population). Hence the beneficial returns on the donated vaccines are likely to be much higher, with respect to containing the peak at a lower level than other states.
- In spite of the clear rationale for allocations as explained by the point above, Tamil Nadu has inexplicably received a very low allotment of vaccines, as a proportion to its population (~6.5% compared to around 16.5% for Gujarat, for example). It appears that additional allotments in the future are not likely either. Therefore, the ONLY possibility of mitigation of the acquisition of a large quantity of vaccines from abroad.
Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr said he wouldbe personally talking to the highest levels of the Biden Administration to ensure that India will equitably distribute the vaccines that USA donates. Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. also said that he will host a zoom call early next week with the C.E.O.’s of Astra Zeneca and Johnson & Johnson in this regard.
He alsoindicated “Help is on the way. We stand by you. Keep Hope Alive. We will do our best to facilitate that the State of Tamil Nadu gets its due share of Covid Vaccines soon.”
Others who were on the zoom call included Parthiban Shanmugam, of Atlanta, Padmanabhan Venkatesan, Treasurer, WFTY, Phoenix, AZ, Alli Dhanaraj, ofWFTY, Naperville, Ill, Vijayakumar Jaganathan, of WFTY, Indian Chapter, Bangalore, India, and Shree Gurusamy, US Congressman Danny K. Davis’s Multi Ethnic Advisory Task Force.
Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. also conveyed a personal message to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin: “Chief Minister Stalin, You are the Man! Help is coming. Chief Minister Stalin, Help is on the way. Dawn of the morning is coming. We will win this battle! We WILL win this battle! We will Conquer this disease, KEEP hope alive! Thank God, Bless you guys.”
Dr. PTR thanked Rev. Jesse Jackson for his assurances at this critical time and thanked The Rainbow Push Coalition Global Ambassador Dr. Vijay Prabhakar who is also the President of World Federation of Tamil Youth U.S.A. for facilitating this meeting.
Attached are the photos of the zoom meeting and also the video of Rev Jesse Jackson Sr’s Message.
Rainbow PUSH Coalition is a multi-racial, multi-issue, progressive, international organization that was formed in December 1996 by the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
