The vaccination drive for industrial workers in the district has slowed down mainly because of shortage of vaccines.
Official sources said that as many as 37,000 workers and employees aged between 18 and 44 and 21,000 workers aged above 45 years had received the vaccination so far. The number may be higher as in some industries the workers had taken the vaccine at health centres and nearby villages or the industries had organised vaccination camps through tie-ups with hospitals.
As many as 105 more units have placed requests with the District Industries Centre (DIC) so far to vaccinate 48,000 workers and are waiting for allocation.
At the SIDCO Industrial Estate at Kurichi, 275 units employ nearly 5,000 workers. So far, the SIDCO Industrial Estate Manufacturers Welfare Association had held special camps jointly with Coimbatore Corporation and the Health Department and vaccinated 1,100 workers above 45 years and 1,100 workers aged below 45. The association has asked for vaccination for 2,000 more workers. “We asked for it two weeks ago. But vaccines are not available. We have been told that the vaccines will be available before June 15,” said P. Nallathambi, president of the Association.
At a textile mill that had placed requests with the Coimbatore and Tiruppur district administrations to vaccinate its workers at units in the two districts, about 250 workers were vaccinated in Tiruppur district. “We are told that vaccines are not available now and will be available next week,” said an official of the mill.
While availability of the vaccine is a challenge, another issue is reluctance among workers. At a unit at Pollachi that employs migrant labourers, the workers fear that the vaccine will result in health complications and hence do not want to take it. “Some units are creating awareness among the workers through videos and by talking to the workers,” said the General Manager of the DIC B. Karthigaivasan.
