A year of vax drive: Mega camps help inoculate 1/3 in TN

After a rather sluggish start exactly a year ago as on Sunday, Tamil Nadu has come a long in vaccinating its population which, according to officials, played an important role in keeping hospitalisation and mortality low in the third wave of the pandemic – thanks to the mega vaccination drives that the State has been organising every week.

Now, nearly 90% of the eligible population in Tamil Nadu have received the first dose and about 65% are fully vaccinated, and 11 of the 38 districts have better coverage than the national average in both categories.

As on Saturday, 8,81,46,669 doses have been administered by government facilities alone, and the number goes beyond 9 crore doses when the private hospital figures are added.

The monthly vaccination numbers crossed 1 crore after mega drive were initiated in September and the effect was seen immediately. That month recorded more than 1.4 crore doses administered, while October, November and December had 1.14 crore, 1.19 crore and 1.27 crore doses respectively.

In January 2021, the daily average doses administered was 7,539; it was 5.35 lakh on Friday. The highest daily doses was 5.36 lakhs recorded in September when the mega drive started. In all, the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine administered 3.17 crore doses through 18 mega camps so far.

The authorities at government hospitals said vaccination is one of the factors why hospitalisations and mortality due to COVID have reduced. “Initially there was vaccine hesitancy but more people began coming forward for vaccination. Currently, it is those who are unvaccinated and aged who are hospitalised with COVID,” said Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan.