Tamil Nadu to hold two mega vaccination drives every week: Govt

Stepping up the gas on the vaccination exercise, the Tamil Nadu government has decided to hold two mega vaccination drives every week, hitherto a weekly exercise, as members of the public were evincing hesitation to receive the jabs, State minister Ma Subramanian said on Tuesday.

Beginning September 12, Tamil Nadu has been conducting mass vaccination campaigns during the weekends in its fight against Covid-19 pandemic through 50,000 vaccination camps across Tamil Nadu.

With effect from November 18, the Health department would hold the vaccination exercises on Thursdays and on Sundays respectively across the state, the Minister for Medical and Family Welfare Subramanian said after inspecting the vaccine inventories at the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine here.

"Today alone, we have vaccinated 4.32 lakh people and there are about 1.31 crore vaccines as stock. Inoculating oneself is the best possible way to safeguard from the contagion. It is unfortunate that people express hesitancy to receive the vaccinations," he told reporters.

Asked whether there was a possibility to administer a booster dose to those who have received two doses of the vaccine, he replied in the negative, stating World Health Organisation did not issue any such advisory.

"Those people who have received the two doses of vaccinations were 97.5 per cent safer (against Covid-19)," he added.

To a query, he said 463 people were under treatment for Dengue in the state.

Meanwhile, an official release said the government has directed district Collectors to collect data of those people who were yet to receive the jabs at the panchayat level.

The district administrations would integrate NGOs, volunteers, various departments to conduct the mass vaccination campaigns.

Excluding Mondays, vaccinations would be administered to beneficiaries at government-run health centres on all days.

Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu is scheduled to chair a meeting with district collectors on November 17 through video conferencing facility to issue the guidelines on holding the two vaccination camps.