Vaccination centres in the district administered COVID-19 vaccines to people aged above 45 on Saturday as the government could not roll out the drive for the 18-45 age group, due to shortage of vaccines, as planned earlier.
The Health Department late on Friday said that a total of 8,500 doses of Covishield vaccine were allotted to vaccination centres at two government medical college hospitals, 12 block primary health centres and 13 government hospitals. A total of 4,000 doses were allotted to the five zones of Coimbatore Corporation. These doses were used on Saturday.
Sources in the Health Department said that people aged above 45, who had come to take their second shot of the vaccine, were given preference at government-run vaccination centres on Saturday.
A few private hospitals contacted by The Hindu said that they did not get vaccines from the Health Department on Saturday.
The vaccination centre at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) on Saturday conducted a vaccination camp at the Government Arts College.
An official from CMCH said that a total of 1,120 persons were vaccinated at the camp. Covishield doses were given to 900 persons – some who took their first dose and others who had their second dose. A total of 220 persons took their second shot of Covaxin at the camp. Frontline workers, including nurses and police personnel got inoculated.
