Coronavirus vaccine dry run at 17 centres in Tamil Nadu on January 2

Tamil Nadu will conduct Covid-19 vaccine “dry run” on Saturday at 17 centres in five districts across the state, even as it has trained over 21,000 health workers on administering the vaccine.

Health Minister C Vijayabhaskar told reporters on Friday that the state government has already identified 47,200 centres where the vaccine will be administered to people once the drive begins in the country. He said that the dry run will be conducted at three places each in Chennai, Nilgiris, Tirunelveli, and Tiruvallur districts, while the number is five in Coimbatore.

For latest updates on coronavirus outbreak, click here

“Elaborate arrangements have been made to ensure that the dry run is successful. We want to equip our staff and keep them ready for the vaccination drive which is not an easy task,” he said. The Minister recalled that Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has already announced that Covid-19 vaccination will be administered to all citizens of the state at free of cost.

Vijayabaskar also said that the state government has kept the testing numbers every day at 70,000 even as the number of persons testing positive for coronavirus has gone down considerably. Officials said that in the first phase, nearly six lakh health workers will receive the vaccination.

Tamil Nadu has already identified 51 warehouses that will have the capacity to store 2.5 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccine at any given time. The vaccination will be carried out in a phased manner with healthcare workers, and front line staff on the priority list. The next priority will be elderly and people above 50 who have co-morbidities.

The official said that the plan for the vaccination programme is being prepared in consultation with district authorities who will play a major role in implementing it.