Chennai: The seventh edition of the Covid-19 mass vaccination programme will be conducted in Tamilnadu Saturday. The programme will be conducted through 50,000 camps across the State.
‘This week too, 50,000 centres will administer preventive vaccines for Covid-19’, Health Minister Ma Subramanian has announced. The camp will be mostly for those requiring Covishield doses.
According to Health Secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan, the crowds in vaccination facilities this month are substantially lower than those they experienced in September. He added the vaccine has been administered to the majority of those who requested it. They were currently battling apprehension. This is true particularly for those who have only taken the first dose. The second dose is currently scheduled for around 60 lakh patients.
Meanwhile, as workers struggle to improve vaccination coverage in Tamilnadu, the State health department has asked districts to prepare a list of people who have not been vaccinated — first and second dose — for a door-to-door campaign.
Health workers, including urban and village health nurses, will visit houses soon to spread awareness on vaccination, and, if required, offer them vaccines at their doorsteps. ‘The aim is to break vaccine hesitancy and encourage more people to take both the doses,’ Radhakrishnan said.
Answering to a question on vaccinating students admitted to colleges to enable them to start attending physical classes, Subramanian said the Union government had been in consultation with the ICMR, which had been of the view that vaccines could be administered.
The Minister urged people to continue the safety protocols even during festival times. He said people should follow the protocols for another year at least to prevent the spread of the infection.