TN to hold seventh edition of mass COVID vax drive on Oct 30

Tamil Nadu would conduct the seventh edition of the COVID mass vaccination programme through 50,000 camps across the state on October 30, State minister Ma Subramanian said on Tuesday.

The health department has conducted six mass vaccination programmes inoculating 1.33 crore people, the Minister for Medical and Family Welfare said.

Briefing reporters after inspecting the vaccines at the storage facility of the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services (DMS) in the city, he said till date 5.68 crore people have been vaccinated in the state.

''Coming Saturday (October 30), the seventh edition of mega vaccination camp will be held through 50,000 camps...those who are waiting to receive the second dose should make use of the exercise'', he said.

Noting that more than 60 lakh people in the state have not received their second dose, he said of the 60 lakh, two lakh people need to receive the second dose of Bharat Biotech's vaccine -- Covaxin.

Subramanian said, along with health secretary J Radhakrishnan he would make a request to the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to allot 10 lakh doses of Covaxin to the state during his visit to New Delhi tomorrow as a large number of people were waiting to receive the dose.

''We will also urge the Minister to allot funds to set up safe vaccine storage facilities in every district of the state'', he said.

Subramanian said he would also make a request to the Union Minister on the necessity to set up government hospitals at 19 locations in the State. ''We need about Rs 950 crore for this purpose. We will also take up this matter with the (Union) Minister'', he said.

Stating that there was no ban to celebrate festivals, Subramanian said people should strictly follow the Covid-19 protocols at least for a year and celebrate the festivals.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)