As the drive to vaccinate children between 15 and 18 years age kicked off on Monday by administering over over 3.24 lakh doses, the Tamil Nadu government Monday decided to create dedicated Covid vaccination sessions or centres for the age group in addition to the camps at schools.
As many as 33.46 lakh children in the age group of 15-18 are eligible to take Covid vaccines. Chief Minister M K Stalin launched the vaccination drive among this age group at Saidapet in Chennai on Monday with the government announcing that the children will be administered the vaccines at schools.
At 6.35 pm on Monday, the Health Department said 3.24 lakh eligible children in the age group of 15-18 received their vaccines with Villupuram topping the list with 17,296 receiving their first dose on the first day.
In a message to deputy directors of health in districts, Director of Public Health (DPH) Dr T S Selvavinayagam asked them to create a few dedicated Covid vaccination sessions/centres, in addition to schools, for those aged between 15 to 18 years in urban and rural areas.
He said the new centres should be opened as parents are demanding vaccination centres outside schools as well. “Care should be taken that such sessions/vaccination centres will have only Covaxin for vaccination. If 18+ sessions are also planned in the same facility, then separate queue and place for 15+ group need to be ensured,” he said in the message.
He added that vaccination drives among this age group will be done at schools using the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) and Mobile Medical Units (MMU) vehicles.
Tamil Nadu has so far administered 8.5 crore vaccine doses with 86.95 per cent of the eligible population – those above the age of 18 – receiving their first dose and 60.71 per cent getting vaccinated fully.
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