Vaccination of 18-44 years age group in Madurai from today

FOR ESSENTIAL WORKERS

Vaccination of 18-44 years age group in Madurai from today

Devanathan.Veerappan@timesgroup.com

Madurai:25.05.2021

The Madurai Corporation is planning to vaccinate people in the 18-44 age group category from essential services sector and volunteers, who are considered to be a high risk group, on Tuesday onwards.

A health official from Madurai district said that vaccination for the high risk group will be carried out through camps. They have been talking with representatives from various sectors such as banking, insurance, TNSTC, medical shop employees and Chamber of Commerce to cover workers in essential industries, railways and vegetable and fruit markets. “We have received 57,000 doses purchased by the state exclusively for people above

18. These will not be given at the regular vaccinations centres since it will get mixed up with the vaccinations given by the centre for the 45 and above category people. Out of the 57,000 doses, 50,000 is Covishield while the rest is Covaxin,” he said.

Special camps for auto rickshaw drivers will be considered after providing jabs for people from other sectors as auto rickshaw operation is banned during the lockdown period, he added.

“We have not got any communication on vaccination for above 18 people from the state government. It might take off after the lockdown period as crowd control amid complete lockdown will be difficult if vaccination is started for them now,” the official added.

Some of the private hospitals in the city resumed vaccination for above 18 people on Monday. Although people were asked to visit the centre after prior booking, there was a huge crowd in hospitals like Apollo in Madurai. Youths stood in line for a long time before their turn. A large number of vehicles were found parked on both sides of the Lake View Road, where the hospital is located.