Nilgiris launches vaccination camps in tribal hamlets

Udhagamandalam: Vaccination camps for the population aged 18 years were launched in the tribal hamlets of Theppakadu and Ezhumuram in Gudalur taluk in the Nilgiris on Thursday.
Supriya Sahu, monitoring officer for the district and CEO of Indcoserve, said more than 1.7 lakh residents of the hill retreat were vaccinated so far. “While the Nilgiris tops the state in the number of people vaccinated, the tribal population hasn’t been showing any positive response to the drive.Hence, camps are being conducted in the tribal hamlets on a priority basis.”
Sahu appealed the tribal community to come forward and get inoculated to protect themselves from the virus. According to her, 1,600 tribal people have taken the jab.
Pointing out that the district has been reporting more than 300 cases a day, Nilgiris collector J Innocent Divya said at least 200 of them would require hospitalization, of which around 20% require oxygen support. “In the first wave, tribals in the district weren’t much affected. This time, the situation is entirely different. Vaccination camps are being conducted to safeguard them.”
ZOHO, a business concern, had donated 100 beds and mattresses to the district administration to set up a Covid care centre at the Gudalur government of arts and science college. The district administration has provided another 100 beds to make it a 200-bed facility.
Meanwhile, people who had registered for the vaccination under the window ‘18+’ had to return without being inoculated from the vaccination centres in Ooty and other parts of the district. Health officials said they were yet to receive guidelines from the government for the window, which was officially launched.