33.46 lakh children to be vaccinated in 15 days: Stalin launches drive in Chennai

Following the rapid spike in Covid cases, Chief Minister M K Stalin, on Monday, launched the scheme of administering Covaxin for children aged between 15 and 18 years.

Under the scheme, 33.46 lakh children will be administered Covaxin and out of them, 25 lakh would be school students. Chief Minister launched the scheme in Corporation girls Higher Secondary School in Saidapet.

After launching the vaccination drive, Stalin said that at a time when the State recovered from economic downfall due to the second wave, Omicron has started to threaten. "We have managed two waves of Covid but rise in Omicron is likely to halt our journey," said Stalin.

Quoting media reports, Stalin said that 46 per cent of Covid affected people are in Chennai and infections are increasing on a daily basis. "The data is not to scare people but to make them stay protected. Self-protection and self-hygiene are important. Health experts opine that when compared to Delta variant the intensity of Omicron is less but it can spread rapidly. The face mask is the only shield available for us," said Stalin.

He also said that social distancing should also be followed and if we fail there might be a rapid spike in cases. "In America, five lakh people are getting infected daily and in Europe too the infection is spreading fast. Though in India the condition is not worse there are chances that infection might spread rapidly. For instance, in Maharasthra 10 ministers and 20 MLAs are infected," he added.

He further said that a double dose of vaccination can save the lives of people and so the State govt has started vaccination as a movement. People above 60 years should be vaccinated for a double dose. "I plead you (public) as a member of your family to get vaccinated," the Chief Minister said. 

Health Minister M Subramanian said that vaccine camps have been set up in all the schools and vaccination for all the 33.46 lakh children will be covered in 15 days.