Vaccine for Teens: Puducherry to inoculate all eligible beneficiaries in 15 days

Puducherry Chief Minister N. Rangasamy inaugurated the vaccination drive for teenagers aged 15-18 on Monday. The mass vaccination drive will be completed in 15 days, according to public health department.

Puducherry:The public health department of Puducherry will vaccinate teenagers in the 15-18 age group within 15 days of the commencement of the vaccination drive on Monday.

Chief Minister N. Rangasamy inaugurated the vaccination drive for the children at Thillayudi Valliyamal Government High School in Kadirkamam. The state Public Health Department Director Dr. G. Sriramalu, while speaking to media persons, said that after the inauguration, all the 60 students of the government school were inoculated after convincing some parents who were hesitant about vaccinating their children.

He said that the health department officials could convince the parents and finally, all the students were vaccinated against Covid-19.The vaccination drive will be conducted at all the government, government-aided and private schools.

The team of health professionals from primary health centres will take the responsibility to vaccinate children in the 15-18 age group, starting from Tuesday. The health department also said that 39 primary health centres have been given the responsibility to inoculate them.

It added that around 83,000 doses of Covaxin have already arrived at Puducherry and Karaikal while the vaccine for Yanam and Mahe will arrive from Andhra Pradesh and Kerala respectively.

Abdul Nasser, director of Mahe Institute of Development Studies, said, "The vaccination drive for adolescents is a major step and with this, we can wade off the dreaded coronavirus from our lives. Hope everyone will inoculate themselves and parents are not vaccine-hesitant."

(IANS)