Two TN villages give 1st vax jab to the entire population

Chennai, July 9 Tamil Nadu's Sikkampattu village in Ulundurpet block and Devi Agaram in Tirkovilur block became the first two villages in the state to provide the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine to the entire eligible group of population, officials said on Friday.

Both villages are in Kallakuruchi district of Tamil Nadu.

Interestingly, pregnant and lactating mothers were also vaccinated in the drive conducted in the ten blocks of the district.

In Sikkampettu village, the total population is 1,026 and excluding those who cannot vaccinate due to medical grounds and those whose names are deleted from the electoral rolls, the eligible population was 790 and this included 15 pregnant women. All of them were vaccinated against Covid-19 in the village.

Devi Agaram village also vaccinated 1,294 people which was its total eligible population.

Kallakuruchi District Collector P.N. Sreedhar said that a spirited team of doctors, health workers and revenue officials joined hands to achieve the milestone.

"We were planning to vaccinate at least one village in a block and there are ten blocks in the district. The Block Development Officer was given in charge of each block and volunteers and ASHA workers conducted a door to door campaign to make the vaccination drive successful," Sreedhar told .

The district collector also said that efforts are on to convert Kallakuruchi into a hundred per cent vaccinated district and the health workers and revenue officials are working overtime to achieve the feat.

Deputy Director of Health Services, Sathish Kumar said that Accredited Social Health Activists(ASHA) conducted door to door surveys in the two villages and prepared a list of the eligible populations above 18 years of age. The names were matched with electoral rolls and then awareness was created to get the people vaccinated.

"Initially, there was hesitancy on the part of people and specifically the disabled people were reluctant to vaccinate. We conducted awareness programs and short videos were created to increase the awareness and now there is a turnaround. We have almost vaccinated 60 to 70 per cent of the whole eligible population in the district and a massive drive is to being conducted," the District Collector said.