Tamil Nadu Will Be The First State To Give The COVID Vaccination To Children

On Wednesday, State Health Minister M Subramaniam announced that Tamil Nadu will be the first in the country to provide Covid-19 vaccines to children aged 2 to 18.

According to Subramaniam, the Centre has made a formal announcement on the vaccination and forwarded the proposal for expert opinion, and once Tamil Nadu receives approval, the state will be the first to deliver the vaccine.

As per sources, a Central Drug Authority expert panel has suggested that Bharat Biotech's Covaxin be given emergency use authorization for children and adolescents aged 2 to 18 with specified diseases. Being authorised by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), it will be the second COVID-19 vaccine to gain EUA for use in children under the age of 18 years, following Zydus Cadila's needle-free ZyCoV-D.

Although the Centre established the scheme for pregnant women, Tamil Nadu was the first to inoculate them, he added. Nearly five lakh such women have received the immunizations thus far.

Subramaniam was in town for a variety of events, notably one at a private educational institution where he inaugurated projects to raise public awareness about 'No Food Waste,' 'Hand Wash,' and 'Re-purpose Used Cooking Oil.' Subramaniam praised the district administration and health department for the effort put out by the administration to deposit discarded cooking oil into record books by converting it to bio-diesel. Brazil has the Guinness World Record for recycling the most used oil in a month, at 550 tonnes.

The Minister said that Coimbatore is ranked one in Tamil Nadu for vaccinating 93% of the population with the first dose and 37% with the second dosage of the Covid-19 vaccine, and that five mobile vans were established for five zones of the city to attain 100% via door-to-door service. According to him, 5.51 lakh people were immunised at five mega camps.

Meanwhile, in the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital, he launched a Rs.1.5-crore Special Newborn Care Unit, which would treat children born weighing less than 1.5 kg. He described Amma Clinics as a "temporary arrangement" in terms of their operation. There was no requirement for such clinics once the DMK government implemented a door-to-door campaign, and its staff was transferred to health departments.