The Covid-19 vaccination in Tamil Nadu on Sunday dropped to a new low of 15,168 from a high of 1.52 lakh on March 22 even as people are showing hesitancy to go and get vaccinated citing elections as a reason.

The number of inoculations has been over 1 lakh between March 15 and March 29 but has been on the decline since March 30 to reach a low of 15,168 on Sunday.

Reacting to the drop in vaccination, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said, Tamil Nadu has totally received 54 lakh vaccines and so far nearly 32 lakh persons have taken the shots. Nobody has reported any major problem due to the vaccination, which will only help people be safe from the virus, he added.

However, the ‘take off’ (inoculation) that was 1.52 lakh on March 22 dropped to 15,000 on Sunday. “This is a worrying factor,” he said, adding that the election is being cited as a reason for not taking the shot. In states like Uttar Pradesh, every day nearly 3.5 lakh people are being vaccinated, he added.

There is no link between elections and vaccination. The Centre will only consider how many persons have been vaccinated in the last three days and release the vaccines accordingly. With the coronavirus cases increasing, it is important that those above 45 years should get the vaccination shots, he said.

With the Model Code of Conduct in place due to the elections, the State government could not campaign to woo people to come and take the shots. However, from April 7, the health department will revive the campaign mode to urge people to take the vaccination shots, he told newspersons after inspecting the State vaccine store at the DMS campus.

On Covid-19 containment strategy, Radhakrishnan said that the Tamil Nadu health department will aggressively restart door-to-door surveillance to identify any person with Covid-19 symptoms from April 7 - a day after the elections to the State Assembly, he said.

This is due to the increasing number of Coronavirus cases in the State with the daily infection increasing to over 3,500 on Sunday. The government will continue the strategy of testing, tracking and isolation.

Covid Care Centres that were closed in the last two months as the infections were low will be reopened to enable admission of Covid-19 patients. He urged persons with mild symptoms to visit these centres rather than going to major centres, including Kings Institute in Chennai. The number of screening centres will also be increased, he said.

Radhakrishnan urged people not to believe in rumours of a possible lockdown due to increase in infections. However, as was stated earlier by the Chief Secretary, restrictions would be brought in phases in non-essential activities, he said.

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