Chennai, Nov 26 (BPNS)
The Tamil Nadu health department in a data released on Thursday said that 1.3 crore eligible people in the state are yet to take the first dose of Covid -19 vaccine as of November 23rd. The department also said that 73 lakh people who are due for the second dose are yet to take it.
The data states that 1,38,74,726 people are to take the first dose while 73,46,363 people are due for the second jab.
The state health secretary, Dr. J. Radhakrishnan in a communication to the district collectors of the state said that the state recorded 2011 deaths in the months of August, September, and October 2021 due to Covid -19. He said that of this only 5% of people who have taken the vaccine have died while the 95% balance population who died had not taken the vaccine or had just taken the first dose.
In the communique, he said that 109 who died even after vaccination or the 5% were mainly due to co-morbidities and delayed treatments.
The data also said that of the 95% people who died of Covid -19, 84% or 1675 deaths were recorded among those who have not taken even the first dose of the vaccine while 11% (227) had taken the first jab.
He insisted that people be made aware of the fact that vaccines are lifesavers against the pandemic and called upon all the eligible people to take the jab.
In the communication, the state health secretary said, “According to the health data the risk of an unvaccinated person dying due to Covid -19 is 3.5 times more than that of a vaccinated person. This is one of the substantial evidence available with us that would make common man understand the importance of vaccination and need to take vaccines at the earliest”.
The health secretary also said that the state has ample quantity of vaccines available with it. He also said that all districts bordering Kerala need to continue to stay alert as frequent travel and movement of people from both sides happen.
Tamil Nadu health minister, Ma Subramanian while speaking to BPNS said,” The health secretary has directed all the district collectors to make people aware of the importance of vaccination against Covid -19 and the death of those unvaccinated due to the pandemic is 3.5 times more than those who have vaccinated. We have asked the district collectors to communicate these statistics to the people down to the grassroots level and make them take the jab. We have ample quantity of vaccine in our store.”
The health minister also said that after finding that Covid -19 cases are dropping people in some areas of the state have let down their guard and warned that this would lead to serious consequences and requested people of the state to follow Covid -19 protocol throughout.
