So far, 52% of Tamil Nadu’s eligible population has received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccines, Health Minister Ma. Subramanian said. The number of people aged over 18 and eligible to get inoculated in the State is 6.06 crore. They have to get both the doses, which will be 12.12 crore in total, he told reporters on Wednesday.
“So far, 52% of the eligible population have received the first dose, while the remaining 48% have not taken it,” he said. The overall coverage — both first and second doses — so far stands at 4.09 crore. Before September 12, the day when the mega vaccination camp was held, the percentage of people who had received their first dose was 45%. This increased to 52% following the camps, he added.
A mega vaccination camp will next be held on September 19, and not September 17, as the stock of vaccines is around 17 lakh, he said. “We have asked the Union government to give us additional vaccine doses. We will focus on places that faced a shortage of vaccines during the last camp... We are trying to ready a stock of at least 20 lakh doses,” he said.
The State has vaccinated 4,33,981 pregnant women, 3,41,837 lactating women, 1,80,142 differently-abled people, 2,223 destitutes and 1,754 people with mental illness. The Minister said COVID-19 cases varied by a margin of 10 to 15 every day. “We have not compromised on the number of samples that is being tested. We continue to test more than 1.5 lakh samples a day. Cases are under control,” he said.
He said counselling for admissions to MBBS courses would be held at the State level.
