Chennai: Tamilnadu inoculated 22.52 lakh people against Covid-19 in the fifth mega vaccination drive on Sunday.
A total of 11,50,351 people received the first shot and 11,02,290 the second, said the Health Department. The earlier camps were held on 12, 19, 26 September and on 3 October in which 87,80,262 people were vaccinated.
More than 1 crore inoculated at vaccination drives held every Sunday for past one month. So far, a total of nearly 5 crore (only at government centres) doses, including in the special camps, have been administered in the State.
Chief Minister M K Stalin, Minister for Medical and Family Welfare Ma Subramanian and Principal Secretary to the Health Department Dr J Radhakrishnan inspected the camps.
On Sunday, more doses were allocated to districts that had a high second dose eligible population. In Chennai city, the civic body had set up two static and two mobile camps in each of the 200 wards. The latter were used to cover localities with floating populations and gated communities.
The Chief Minister said 65 per cent of the total beneficiaries received their first dose and 22 per cent their second dose as of Saturday.
‘We are vaccinating people aged 18 years and above on priority and they should make use of the nearest vaccination camps. The district collectors have been advised to pay special attention and achieve the goal of COVID-19 vaccination camps,’ he said.
In Madurai, Trichy and some other places, the local bodies continued to announce gifts to bring in more people to vaccine centres. Most of the beneficiaries come on their own. It is like a festival on Sundays wherein vaccination camps are conducted closer to their homes and they come to the camps along with neighbours.