Covid-19: Tamil Nadu opts for door-to-door campaign to beat vax reluctance

Tamil Nadu state government is of the view that instead of forcing people to get vaccinated or giving anyone sops, it will now focus on creating awareness.

From refrigerators to washing machines to sarees, Tamil Nadu had seen various local trusts and associations lining up sops to bring more people to coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccination centres in the state. However, despite all the efforts, some 4.3 million people are yet to take the first dose of the vaccine and nearly 13 million people  - the second dose.

As cases rise, the state government is once again trying to underatke a door-to-door campaign, meeting the people directly, calling them over phones and sending sms alerts. After witnessing vaccine reluctance, several trusts and social organisations had offered freebies during the first leg of vaccination in the state. The state is also planning to conduct a mega vaccination drive across 100,000 centres on May 8.

The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) had emerged as a covid cluster, with as many as 171 Covid cases reported so far, with nearly 6,650 samples taken for tests so far.

The state government is of the view that instead of forcing people to get vaccinated or giving anyone sops, it will now focus on creating awareness. “Despite several efforts people are not coming for vaccinations. We are going to their homes and requesting them to take vaccines. They should know that this is to protect their own life,” said Dr TS Selvavinayagam, director, Public Health.

What is even more worrying for the state is the vaccine reluctance in frontline workers and senior citizens. Among frontline workers, only 46 per cent have taken both the doses, while only 64 per cent of health sector workers have taken the same, despite being the most vulnerable. Among senior citizens too, only 58 per cent have taken both the doses. “We can only request them to get vaccinated. We had conducted vaccination drives almost every week,” Selvavinayagam added.

The number of fresh cases in the state declined to 73 in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of active cases to 488, compared to 77 fresh cases and 488 active cases on Wednesday. It was on April 20 that a cluster was reported at IIT-M with 12 students testing positive.