With the COVID-19 vaccination festival or ‘Tika Utsav’, as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, under way across the State, the Health Department is planning to intensify vaccination efforts from April 14. Among the initiatives being carried out are workplace interventions for employees aged above 45.
Officials of the Health Department said a camp held at a hospital in Avadi for industrial workers had received good response.
“We spoke with the Industries Secretary, who has assigned officials of the District Industries Centre to coordinate with us.There is no shortage of vaccines, and we are going by three to five days’ stock availability. The Central government will also continue to supply the vaccines,” an official said.
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In Madurai district, the vaccination festival was organised by the Public Health Department.
An official said those aged above 45 were encouraged to get vaccinated at primary health centres and government hospitals.
Special camps were organised at various workplaces to vaccinate those eligible. A total of 39 employees of Indian Oil Corporation Limited and 127 members of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board were vaccinated. Amma Unavagam workers aged above 45 were also vaccinated, he added.
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Tiruchi Collector S. Divyadharshini, who held a meeting with the heads of various departments on Monday, instructed them to ensure that all government officials and employees above 45 years of age get vaccinated during the three-day vaccine festival, beginning on Tuesday.
A senior official of the Health Department said elaborate arrangements had been made at government hospitals in the district to accelerate the vaccination drive during the festival. Similarly, private hospitals had also been asked to set up special counters to vaccinate those above 45 years of age.
The Coimbatore Corporation on Monday launched a mobile vaccination drive by deploying vehicles to inoculate people at their workplaces or houses.
Launching the drive at the Corporation head office in Town Hall, Commissioner P. Kumaravel Pandian said the civic body’s target was to vaccinate at least 10,000 people a day. This was in addition to the 150-200 people being vaccinated at the urban primary health centres.
The Corporation had deployed three vehicles each in the North and East zones and two each in the West, South and Central zones, sources said, adding that it had deployed more vehicles in two zones because of the concentration of industries and with the objective of vaccinating as many workers as possible.
On Monday, a total of 1,63,935 people — 88,210 aged 45 to 59 with co-morbidities, 62,106 senior citizens, 9,526 frontline workers and 4,093 healthcare workers — got vaccinated. The overall coverage so far stood at 39,44,005. Vaccination was held in 4,343 sessions.