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Tamil Nadu govt to vaccinate 18-44 age group from today
Tamil Nadu had deferred the vaccination drive for those in the age group of 18-44, which was initially supposed to begin on May 1, on the account of shortage of Covid-19 vaccines.
The Tamil Nadu government will begin vaccinating the people in the age group of 18-44 for the coronavirus disease from Thursday. The drive will be launched by chief minister MK Stalin. Autorickshaw drivers, industry workers and the disabled will be be give priority, according to state health minister M Subramanian.
From the ₹46 crore worth orders placed, Tamil Nadu received nine lakh doses of vaccines from the Centre, the health minister said. With this, the total number of vaccine doses from the Centre went up to 78 lakh, and of them, 69 lakh doses have already been administered.
The state government had deferred the vaccination drive for those in the age group of 18-44, which was initially supposed to begin on May 1, due to a shortage in vaccine supply. People above 45 years of age continued to be inoculated against the disease.
“Instead of waiting till tomorrow (and disappointing people), I wish to clarify (now) that we are unsure when and how much out of 1.5 crore doses of vaccine sought by Tamil Nadu, will arrive,” state health secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan had told news agency PTI.
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Tamil Nadu reported 34,875 fresh Covid-19 cases and 365 new deaths due to the virus on Wednesday. The new cases took the total caseload to 16,99,225 and the death toll was pushed to 18,734, according to the state health department.
Meanwhile, CM Stalin will be reviewing measures taken by the government to prevent spread of coronavirus in Salem, Tirupur, Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchirappalli from May 20 to 21. This would be his first official tour as the chief minister after he took oath on May 7.
