Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has joined hands with the Tamil Nadu government for a free vaccination drive in the State supported by CII members through their CSR funds. This was inaugurated on Wednesday by Chief Minister MK Stalin at Kauvery Hospital in Chennai.

Through this initiative, inaugurated by the Chief Minister MK Stalin, Covid vaccines would be procured and given free to the beneficiaries through private hospitals with contribution by industries’ through their CSR funds. CII has contributed ₹2.2 crore for this initiative, which is supported by Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, Saint Gobain, ZF Wabco, CavinKare and Danfoss Industries, said a CII press release.

Industry support

S Chandrakumar, Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu, said that this is the first of its kind initiative in India. It is happy to see that many Industries in the State have come forward to support this initiative which goes a long way in inoculating the people of the State, especially in the rural areas.

In the first phase, the free vaccination drive will be held in the districts of Chennai, Kanchipuram, Cuddalore and Erode districts with the support of CII members in their respective locations.

As part of the Covid interventions, CII through its member companies had already vaccinated more than 2 lakh employees and their family members in Tamil Nadu, the release said.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, daily number of coronavirus cases across Tamil Nadu dropped further to 1,756 (1,767 on Tuesday). However, for the second day in succession, Chennai; Coimbatore and Erode saw a marginal increase when compared to Tuesday.

Chennai reported 164 new cases on Wednesday (139 on Tuesday and 122 on Monday); Coimbatore reported 179 (169 on Tuesday and 164 on Monday) and Erode 140 (132 on Tuesday and 127 on Monday) and 1.55 lakh 1,55,997 samples were tested.

After 2,394 persons were discharged, the total number of active cases dropped to 21,521.

The number of deaths registered was 29 and 1,55,997 samples were tested.

On Wednesday, the State received 1.40 lakh 1,40,810 doses of Covaxin and 5.81 lakh 5,81,270 doses of Covishield.

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