Following the arrival of Covishield and Covaxin vaccines in Madurai after a short supply faced earlier this week, people thronged vaccination centres across the city on Sunday.
Government Rajaji Hospital’s vaccination centre functioning on Elango Corporation Higher Secondary School premises witnessed serpentine queues from as early as 7 a.m. From office-goers to homemakers, people waited patiently for hours for the inoculation.
R. Ramalakshmi, a 34-year-old homemaker, said inoculation was necessary to build immunity against the COVID-19. The woman said since she had to take care of her family members, she had to protect herself first.
She and her husband, who works in a private firm, received the vaccination. For her husband, his firm had made it mandatory for their employees to get vaccination, she said. Even otherwise people should come forward to get vaccinated, she said.
S. Muthukumar, a 24-year-old employee of a private firm in the city, agreed that vaccination was important in the fight against the pandemic. He and five of his family members received the vaccine.
People said that they were satisfied with the arrangements made at the vaccination centres. Safety protocols such as wearing of face masks and maintaining physical distancing were followed at the vaccination centres.
In Madurai district, 7,119 vaccine doses were administered - the beneficiaries included those who took it as first dose and second dose - on Sunday. The current supply would last for three to four days, said a senior health official.