Tamil Nadu to vaccinate all Nilgiri advasis by June-end

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government is planning to vaccinate all 21,493 Adivasis or tribals in the Nilgiri district by the end of this month.

The state's Public Health Department in a statement on Sunday night said that it will get all the tribes of the district inoculated.

State Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ma Subramaniam during his visit to Udhagamandalam on Sunday told reporters that of the 21,493 Adivasis in Nilgiri district, only 3,000 were vaccinated so far. The state aims to vaccinate all.

The Office of Public Health said that the minister had visited the tribal colony of Chemmanatham along with state Forest Minister K. Ramachandran, Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan, and Nilgiri District Collector Innocent Divya.

Subramaniam told IANS: "Yes, I have visited Chemmanatham tribal settlement and have called upon the district administration to inoculate all the 172 tribal people living there.

"We have also planned a special drive to vaccinate all the Adivasi and tribal people and 18,000 doses of vaccine will be brought to the district for this to fulfill the June end deadline."

The minister also said that the state has so far received 1.15 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses and another 42 lakh doses were expected in June.

The minister inspected the construction of the Government medical college and hospital and also the oxygen storage tank at Udhagamandalam.