7.36 lakh inoculated in mega vax drive

A total of 7.36 lakh doses of vaccines were administered against Covid-19 in the State, including 1.39 lakh first doses, 5.69 lakh second doses and 27,377 precautionary booster doses.

Health Minister Ma Subramanian inspected the Covid-19 mega vaccination camp at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital on Saturday. The mega vaccination camp is being held at about 35,000 vaccination sites.

He said 3.65 crore people have been vaccinated at 21 mega vaccination camps held so far in the State. As many as 5.6 lakh vaccination centres have vaccinated about 9.75 people across Tamil Nadu. Of these, 5.26 crore are the ones above the age of 18 who have taken one dose and 4.7 crore citizens have been vaccinated with the second dose. About 91.17 per cent of the population have been given the first dose. At least 4.7 crore people have been vaccinated with the 2nd dose of the vaccine, which is about 71.32 per cent of the eligible population.

Of the 33.46 lakh targetted children aged 15-18 years in the State, 80.9 per cent of them, which is 27.6 lakh children, have been vaccinated with the first dose of Covaxin and 8.5 lakh with the second dose of the vaccine. The Minister said health workers, frontline workers and those aged 65 and above with comorbidities are being given the booster dose and 5.32 lakh people have been given the precautionary booster dose.

He added that 2,792 of 12,525 panchayats in the State have 100 per cent vaccination of the first dose while of 121 municipalities, 24 have been 100 per cent vaccinated. He said that a decline in the Covid-19 cases is indicating the end of the third wave ofCovid-19.

The number of vaccination sites was brought down from 50,000 to 35,000 locations and vaccination camps in Chennai from 1,600 to 500 this Saturday in view of ULB polls. However, the public can make use of 24-hour vaccination camps at medical college hospitals and other district headquarters hospitals in the State.