Two villages in Kallakurichi district have been declared as the first to achieve 100% coverage of their eligible population with the first dose of vaccine.
According to Collector P.N. Sridhar, Sikkampattu village in Ulundurpet block and Devi Agaram in Tirkovilur block had achieved the milestone of vaccinating 100% of their population.
Sikkampattu village has a total population of 1,026. Of them, a total of 236 were excluded – persons whose names were deleted from the electoral roll and those who cannot take the vaccine based on medical grounds. The remaining 790, including 15 pregnant women, were vaccinated against COVID-19 in the village.
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Similarly, Devi Agaram had vaccinated 100% of its eligible population of 1,294.
Mr. Sridhar said the district administration had specifically fixed a target of vaccinating at least one village per block. The district has a total of nine blocks.
The district administration also asked Block Medical Officers to select two villages each to achieve the milestone.
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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 population above 18 years.
The names in the list were crossmatched with the electoral rolls and ASHA workers persuaded the villagers to get vaccinated.
An awareness campaign was also held to prevail upon them the need to get vaccinated to protect themselves from the COVID-19 virus, he said.
Mr. Sridhar said that focussed efforts of doctors and revenue teams helped them achieve the milestone.
“Now we have planned to cover other villages that have inoculated around 60 to 70% of their eligible population,” he added.