Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Tuesday appealed to the youth to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and become ambassadors in motivating others to follow suit.
Addressing students of the Bharathidasan Government College for Women on the second day of the four-day integrated vaccination drive, she said, “Young people need to get inoculated and become vaccination ambassadors because hesitancy still persists.”
She urged the youth to join Puducherry’s efforts at becoming a fully vaccinated Union Territory before Independence Day. Stating that there was no vaccine shortage in Puducherry unlike in other States, Ms. Soundararajan appealed to the people to come forward voluntarily as vaccination could not be made mandatory or compulsory in a democratic nation like India. “A vaccinated person becomes stronger in attaining protection from coronavirus,” she added.
On her experience of getting the second jab during her dual role of Telangana Governor, Ms. Soundararajan recalled that she had come to know that the State’s tribal population was hesitant to get the vaccine. “I thought that I could help motivate them by having my second vaccination in their village in Telangana,” she said.
She said it was notable that Puducherry had been able to control COVID-19 cases through calibrated lockdown relaxations that also protected people’s livelihoods. The Madras High Court lauded the manner in which the pandemic had been controlled in the Union Territory, she said. According to the Lt. Governor, the government recently launched a special scheme to distribute kits to pregnant women, consisting of health mix powder, ghee produced by the Pondicherry Cooperative Milk Producers Federation (PONLAIT) and protein biscuits. Baby care kits, consisting of a baby dress, towels and toiletries, were also being distributed to lactating mothers.
All those who were enrolled as beneficiaries of anganwadi schemes were getting these kits, Ms. Soundararajan added.
Prakash Kumar, MLA, S. Mohan Kumar, Health Director, Raji Sukumar, college principal, faculty and students participated.