CHENNAI: “Beneficiaries cannot chose between Covaxin and Covishield. They can only get what is available during the time of vaccination at the site,” TS Selvavinayagam, Director of Public Health, said on Wednesday.
He added, “Getting vaccine is voluntary. If they don’t want the vaccine, it’s fine. If they want only particular vaccine and if that is not available at the site, then the beneficiary will not receive the vaccine.” Tamil Nadu on Wednesday received 20,000 doses of Covaxin from the Central government, in addition to the 5,36,500 doses of Covishield received on Tuesday. Though the health department has begun distribution of Covishield to districts, they are yet to decide on the dispatch of Covaxin to the sites.
The much anticipated Covid-19 vaccination drive will begin from Saturday across the State as part of the nationwide immunisation programme. First, healthcare workers will be vaccinated. In Tamil Nadu, over 4.39 lakh healthcare workers have registered for the dose, said health officials.
The State is planning to administer vaccines in over 300 sites. “We are still working on the list of sites. Preference will be given to government sites and then it will be extended to other sites, if needed,” Selvavinayagam added.
So far, as many as 5,12,200 doses of Covishield have been distributed, and the remaining 24,300 doses have been saved as buffer stock at the State Vaccine Centre (SVC). On dispatching Covaxin, Selvavinayagam said, it would be dispatched after finalising on the sites. TN has a total of 2,704 cold storage chain points. The Chennai Regional Vaccine Store (RVS) received the highest doses of Covishield (1.18 lakh) among five district vaccine stores.
State reports fewer than 700 new cases
673: Covid-positive cases were reported in the State on Wednesday
6: Deaths
8,28,287: Tally
12,242: Toll
6,653: Active cases, after 821 were discharged on the day
4: Four passengers who tested positive for the new UK variant were discharged from the hospital after treatment and sent for home quarantine. They were among 16 UK returnees and 16 of their contacts who tested positive and were discharged from hospital after testing negative
District-wise breakdown
Chennai: 192
Chengalpattu: 55
Kancheepuram: 18
Tiruvallur: 32
Zero cases in Perambalur Perambalur district reported zero cases and 19 districts reported less than 10 cases
Samples to single out
State tested 62,683 samples and 62,409 people on the day
6: Six passengers from other States tested positive on Wednesday (one person from West Bengal by flight, four from WB by road and one from Karnataka by road)