Tamil Nadu to commence total vaccination drive for senior citizens

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu health department is embarking on a massive drive for total vaccination of the senior citizen population in the state from Sunday.

The Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine under the state health department is to focus on a second dose of vaccines to the 60-plus population, and an extensive campaign is planned in all the districts.

A statement from the department said that only 13 per cent of the senior citizen population is fully vaccinated and hence the state is moving ahead with the plan for complete and total vaccination of the 60-plus population in the state.

The department will conduct an exclusive session every Sunday to administer a second dose of vaccine to the senior citizens, the statement said.

The Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine said that of the 86,28,324 senior citizen population in the state, 28,46,836 (33 per cent) of the 60-plus population received the first dose of the jab on Friday. 11,54,077 (11 per cent) of the 60-plus population was fully vaccinated, the directorate said.

Ariyalur, Cheyyar, Karur, Ranipet, Tirunelveli, and Villupuram Health Unit Districts (HUD) have low coverage of the first dose of the vaccine with 20 per cent of the senior citizens receiving the first jab. However, there are 43 HUDs where less than 20 per cent of the senior citizens have received the first dose of vaccines.

Chennai accounted for the highest number of vaccination for the senior citizens with 35 per cent of the 60-plus population receiving both the doses and the city has also achieved 60 per cent coverage on administering the first dose of vaccine to the senior citizens.

In the Nilgiris of the 87,945 senior citizens, 59,824 received their first dose of the vaccine thus taking the percentage of those having received the first jab to 68 per cent. The feat of a rural district was appreciated by the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.

The directorate has already given instructions to district administration to inoculate the senior citizens in their respective districts with immediate effect. There would be special counters for vaccinating senior citizens on all Sundays at designated Covid-19 vaccination centres.