The vaccination exercise began at the Netaji Apparel Park here which has a 12,000 strong workforce and all eligible employees would be administered the jabs, an official release said adding Stalin gave away certificates to beneficiaries.

People in the 18-plus age range were the backbone of the economy and in the first phase of vaccination for this group, Stalin has ordered vaccination of high-risk category people and industrial workers, the government said. All efforts were being made to procure as much as 3.5 crore vaccine doses through global bids and 1.5 crore under a system of allocation to states by the Centre for vaccination of those under 45 years of age.

The union government had said that vaccination of people in the 18-44 age group should be implemented by the state governments. Stalin, in a tweet, said vaccination is a big weapon that would win over the pandemic.