1.22 lakh doses of vaccines administered during 19th mega vaccination drive in Tamil Nadu

At least 1,22,494 doses of vaccines were administered during the 19th mega vaccination camps across Tamil Nadu until 11.15 am on Saturday. About 1,21,767 doses were administered to those aged 18 years and above, while 727 beneficiaries were aged 15-18 years and precautionary doses were given to 4,279 eligible people.

Health Minister Ma Subramanian inspected the mega vaccination drive at IIT Campus on Saturday and a mobile medical unit developed by IIT students for case monitoring and testing. He said that 3.36 crore people have been vaccinated in Tamil Nadu during the 18 mega vaccination camps conducted. 

Of the 33 lakh eligible children in the age of 15-28 years, 25.5 lakh children, which is about 73 percent, have been vaccinated.

"There are 5.56 lakh people eligible to take booster precautionary dose and 1.8 lakh have been vaccinated with the same and to encourage the same, special vaccination camp will be held on next Thursday. So far, 9.17 crore vaccines have been administered in the State," he said. Urging more number of people to come forward for vaccination, he said that there are at least 89 per cent eligible people in Tamil Nadu have been vaccinated with first dose and about 65 per cent people have been given second dose of the vaccine.

When asked about the use of fake vaccination certificates through private vaccination sites, he said that people should not pay for fake certificates and instead get vaccinated as the State Health Department has taken numerous efforts to arrange for vaccination camps where anyone can get vaccinated and obtain the vaccination certificate.

Talking about the rise in  cases in several districts including Coimbatore, Chengalpattu, Tirupattur and Tiruvallur, he said that a lot of people travelled from urban areas to rural areas during Pongal holidays and surge in cases has been reported. "Those who have travelled from Chennai to other places have likely led to the rise in the cases in other places. Meanwhile, the numbers of cases in Chennai are seeing a decline," he said.

He added that different variants of the virus will appear and as per WHO experts, we have to provide standard treatment and get vaccinated to stay protected against the virus.

Read: Precaution shots can be taken after 3 months post-Covid recovery: Centre's new guidelines on vaccination