With Tamil Nadu’s first dose coverage reaching 81.18%, a little over one crore eligible persons are yet to receive the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. As many as 93.4 lakh persons are due for the second dose of the vaccine in the State that is inching closer to the half-way mark in second dose coverage.
On Saturday, as the 14th mega vaccination camp is all set to be held, officials are highlighting the need to accelerate vaccination coverage. “Our first dose coverage has crossed 81%. Still, 1.09 crore persons are yet to take it,” Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan said.
As of Thursday, 48.72% of the State’s eligible population — 5,78,91,000 — were fully vaccinated. Of the 93,40,751 persons who were due and over due for second dose of vaccination, 82,92,875 persons were due to receive Covishield and 10,47,876 persons Covaxin, according to data with the Health department.
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In a letter to the district Collectors, Mr. Radhakrishnan said the State task force had recommended certain measures in the light of the new variant of concern, Omicron.
Among the measures recommended was strengthening of vaccination drive to attain full coverage of the target population.
Apart from testing all passengers from high alert countries for COVID-19, the task force recommended strengthening surveillance at the State level. The State border surveillance should be strengthened to ensure that the inter-State transmission of the new strain may be prevented, while routine surveillance should be strengthened by increasing the testing rates.
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All new clusters that are emerging may be epidemiologically investigated and the strain causing the cluster may be identified for further control measures.
The government should ensure appropriate COVID-19 behaviour in the community. Awareness, enforcing and surveillance on mask compliances should be done, while social gatherings including religious festivals should be strictly monitored and COVID-19 appropriate behaviour ensured, it said.
The recommendations made by the task force to handle the third wave were already under implementation. Those measures need to be reviewed for handling upswing in cases now, if any. In addition to these measures, the Health Secretary requested the Collectors to keep abreast of the various developments and ensure that all followed COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and Standard Operating Protocols for permitted activities should be monitored and enforced effectively.
IEC campaigns should be intensified and vaccination of eligible persons who are still unvaccinated and those who are due or overdue for second dose should be expedited, he said.