Two villages in Kallakurichi district have been declared as the first to achieve 100% vaccination of their eligible population with the first dose of the vaccine.
District Collector P.N. Sridhar said Sikkampattu village in Ulundurpet block and Devi Agaram in Tirukovilur block had achieved the milestone of vaccinating 100% of their population with at least one dose of vaccine.
Sikkampattu has a population of 1,026. Of this, 236 people could not take the vaccine on medical grounds. The remaining 790, including 15 pregnant women, were vaccinated against COVID-19 in the village.
Similarly, Devi Agaram has vaccinated 100% of its eligible population of 1,294 with at least one dose of the vaccine.
Mr. Sridhar said the district administration had fixed a target of vaccinating at least one village per block. The district has nine blocks.
The district administration asked the Block Medical Officers to select two villages each to achieve the milestone.
Deputy Director of Health Services Sathish Kumar said Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) conducted a door-to-door survey in the two villages and prepared a list of eligible people.
The list was checked against the electoral rolls, and ASHA workers then persuaded the villagers to get vaccinated.
Campaign launched
An awareness campaign was also conducted to prevail upon the people to get vaccinated, he said.
Mr. Sridhar said that efforts of the doctors and revenue teams had helped in achieving the milestone.
“Now, we have planned to cover other villages that have inoculated around 60 to 70% of their eligible population,” he said.
