Chennai, Nov 6 (BPNS)
The Tamil Nadu health department has commenced door-to-door campaigns to check on the people who have not taken the second dose of vaccine after they have completed the mandatory eligibility period. According to the state health department, around 65 lakh people in the state are eligible for second dose of vaccine.
The health department is using the services of the mobile vaccination clinics for the purpose of conducting door-to-door awareness and to check out the persons to be inoculated.
Tamil Nadu has already vaccinated 71% of its eligible population with the first dose of vaccine but only 31% have taken their second dose of vaccine and except in Nilgiris and % (58%) and Chennai (50%), no other districts of the state have touched the 50% mark regarding the second dose of vaccine.
The Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, 50,44, 862 persons are eligible for the second dose of Covishield vaccine and 14,11,437 people are eligible for the second dose of Covaxin.
The state health department has already prepared a list of persons eligible for the second dose of vaccine on a district level basis and health teams are reaching out to those who are delaying the second dose of vaccine. The health department is also focusing on those who have yet to take even a single dose of vaccine.
Tamil Nadu health minister, Ma Subramanian while speaking to BPNS said, “ After the fresh Covid -19 cases came down drastically, there is a tendency among the people to delay the second dose of vaccine and this is not acceptable. We have deputed mobile volunteers to check the details of those who have not taken the second dose even after being eligible for the same and would take measures for them to be inoculated.”
Dr. Suchitra V. Menon, Professor of Microbiology, in a Government medical college of Tamil Nadu, while speaking to BPNS said, “People with co-morbidities and those who have undergone organ transplantation like liver transplant, kidney transplant, etc requires a booster dose and you cant ask them to take a booster dose without a second dose and hence people must be made aware that second dose vaccines are as important as the first dose.”
