Over 28L people inoculated in one day as part of mega vaccine drive
CHENNAI: A total of 28,91,021 people were vaccinated during the mega vaccination drive held at 40,000 camps across TN on Sunday. With this, the total number of inoculations in the State crossed the four-crore mark, 22.91 lakh jabs administered in private sites and 3.79 crore doses in government sites.
The drive, which began at 7 am, initially targeted 20 lakh doses but crossed that mark at 4 pm. A total of 21.07 lakh first doses were given, while 7.29 lakh second doses were administered. The highest number of 1.88 lakh doses were recorded in Chennai, followed by 1.51 lakh in Coimbatore and 1.21 lakh in Tirupur. Several districts, including Erode, Chengalpattu, Thanjavur, were given additional doses for having reported a high number of cases. “We overachieved the target as there was overwhelming response. Existing stock is expected to be over,” said Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan. Chief Minister MK Stalin congratulated Subramanian and health officials for achieving the feat of inoculating over 25 lakh people on Sunday in “marathon speed”.
Meanwhile, the mega vaccination drive evoked an overwhelming response in Madurai and other districts in the southern region. A total of 1,15,000 people were inoculated in 1,500 camps across Madurai district. The response among rural people was better than in urban areas. In Theni district, 63,345 people were inoculated.
MERIN JAMES
Amega vaccination camp was conducted in 1,600 locations across Chennai on September 12. People who came to vaccinate were surprised to see a team of youngsters singing some popular Tamil film songs. These youngsters are part of a music community called On The Streets of Chennai. Senthil Raj, the founder of the music community, tells DT Next, “Last year in December, we did 53 shows in just two days for COVID awareness. Also, during the election, we did a few shows on voting awareness. After that, we couldn’t do anything because of the second wave. A few days ago, I met Chennai Smart City Limited CEO Raj Cherubal and conveyed our interest in doing similar campaigns. We also wanted to bring back the street music scene. He mentioned the upcoming vaccination campaigns and said that we can engage if interested. On September 12, Chennai Corporation conducted 1,600 special vaccination camps across all zones. Members from our community performed for an hour at five vaccination centres across the city — Anna Nagar Tower Park, Alandur, Nanganallur, Kolathur and T Nagar.”
On The Streets of Chennai was started a few years ago with the intent to develop a culture of street music and spreading happiness. “In between the performances, the team members also conveyed the importance of taking vaccination on time. The response to these live shows was great — a few people were seen humming and some recorded the performances. We are eagerly waiting to get back on the streets with live shows and this was a wonderful exercise for our team members. We are not sure when the next mega vaccination drive will happen. But we will be working it out with Greater Chennai Corporation,” he adds. On September 26, the team will be releasing a collection of eight songs titled OTS Collective.
In between the performances, the team members also conveyed the importance of taking vaccination on time
Senthil Raj Founder, On The Streets