With the COVID-19 vaccine (COVISHIELD) reaching Chennai, the district administration in Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Tirupathur and Ranipet are gearing up to administer the vaccine to all the health workers on the list.
In the first phase, 42,100 doses have been assigned for the Vellore region. While 18,600 doses have been allocated for Vellore, 4,400 have been set aside for health workers in Ranipet. The number stands at 4,700 for Tirupathur, 10,000 for Tiruvannamalai and 4,400 in Cheyyar. "The number varies depending on the number of government and private hospitals and medical colleges," said an official from the Health Department.
There are a total of 248 Cold Chain Points in all these districts together. Health officials in these districts said that though there are plans to start the drive from January 16, the exact date is yet to be communicated by the government.
"We already have the infrastructure ready and we are prepared to launch it the moment the government gives the go ahead," said Sandeep Nanduri, Collector, Tiruvannamalai.
The District Collectors also held a review meeting a few days ago to assess the preparedness. "The entire machinery is ready to start administering the vaccines. We already conducted a dry run to ensure smooth implementation of the process," said A. Shanmuga Sundaram, Collector, Vellore.
However, officials from the Health Department said that they have to wait to see how many doses they recieve. "Per day we will vaccinate 100 beneficiaries in each centre. Every district will have multiple centres for the process," said a health official from Tirupattur.
The official said that the vaccine would be administered only for those health workers who have registered in the CoWIN portal.