Tamil Nadu's 2nd mega Covid vaccination camp on Sept 19

In the first camp a total of 28.91 lakh beneficiaries were inoculated which was much above the target of 20 lakh people.

State Health Minister Ma Subramanian said that the state has a stock of 17 lakh vaccines and has written to the union government to provide more vaccines for the second mega camp to be held on Sunday. 

He said that the state would prefer a stock of 20 lakh vaccines and said that it expects the Centre to provide an adequate volume of doses within the next two days.

The state health department had set up 40,000 booths across the state to vaccinate the eligible population and the last mega vaccination camp turned out to be a resounding success.

Subramanian told IANS said: "Till date, 52 per cent of the eligible population of the state has been vaccinated with the first dose and the remaining 48 per cent is yet to receive it. 

"Before the mega vaccination camp on September 12, the percentage of people who had received their first dose was 45 and this has increased to 52 following the camp. This success is expected to be repeated in the next camp. All necessary grassroot-level work has been initiated for the vaccination camps across the state."

He also said that the state has not compromised on the number of samples being tested and added that the state was testing 1.5 lakh samples a day for Covid -19.

A statement from the office of the health minister on Wednesday said that the state has vaccinated 4,33,981 pregnant women; 3,41,837 lactating mothers; 1,80,142 differently-abled people; 2,223 destitute; and 1,754 people with mental illness.

The state health department will also conduct door to door survey of people with comorbidities and volunteers have been deployed for it. The district health officer will coordinate the programme and will be closely monitored by the state health department.