Vaccination reaches 2nd leg but Covaxin yet to gain acceptance

Even as vaccine drive has entered the second leg under which frontline workers, including police personnel, are to be administered the shot, there still are very few takers for Covaxin. Till date, only one-fifth of the capacity has been utilised when it comes to this vaccine, show figures from the Health Department.

So far, 3,573 people have been taken Covaxin shots, including 3,541 healthcare workers, 3 frontline workers and 29 police personnel. This works out to only about 21 per cent of the capacity of 16,800 doses at 138 sessions.

Due to the hesitation among healthcare workers to take Covaxin because the vaccine is still in the third phase of clinical trial, the top brass of the State Health Department, including Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar and Secretary J Radhakrishnan, had received doses of Covaxin to encourage more healthcare workers to shed their scepticism about the vaccine.

However, even after that, there is little acceptance for Covaxin the frontline workers and police personnel.

“We cannot force anyone to take the vaccines if they have not registered. Since the vaccination is a voluntary process, we are looking at mass coverage and not a data driven approach. The aim is to ensure prevention against COVID-19, “said Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Dr TS Selvavinayagam.

On Tuesday, 10,550 persons were vaccinated throughout the State, including 7,436 healthcare workers, 1,480 frontline workers and 1,634 police personnel. So far, 1,85,299 persons have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu so far.