TN Health Minister receives COVID-19 vaccination

Chennai, Jan 22(PTI): Tamil Nadu Health Minister CVijayabhaskar, a medical doctor, received the COVID-19vaccination here on Friday.

''I got vaccinated today as a member of the medicalfraternity and to instill confidence among the fellowhealthcare personnel. I have not taken this as a minister,'' hetold reporters after receiving the Covaxin shot at RajivGandhi Government General Hospital here.

He said there should not be any kind of hesitationamong the public to get themselves vaccinated.

''I request all to get vaccinated and safeguardthemselves from COVID-19'', he added.

''...the session site had Covaxin which they (hospitalstaff) administered to me and I was proud to see the fieldfunctionaries following all protocols,'' he said.

Later responding to a query, Vijayabhaskar said 10.45lakh Covishield vaccine doses and 20,000 Covaxin does havearrived in the state so far and 166 session sites have beenset up to provide the vaccination.

The minister said he opted for Covaxin since it was a'Made in India' product and only 908 people including himselfhad got it administered in the state so far.

He said the government has identified six lakh medicalpersonnel and over 40,000 people have got themselvesvaccinated so far.

Recently, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan got himselfvaccinated at the Mahamta Gandhi Memorial Government Hospitalin Tiruchirappalli.

According to the Department of Public Health andPreventive Medicine, as of Thursday, 42,947 people on prioritylist, including health workers have been immunised since thelaunch of the vaccination drive on January 16.