COONOOR: A section of residents of The Nilgiris is seeking clarity from the Collector as to how the district administration claims to have achieved 100 per cent first dose vaccination in the district.
Convener of Federation of Service Organisations R Subramaniam told TNIE, “On September 12, the Collector said that all eligible persons in the district numbering 5,14,783 have received the first dose vaccination and only 6,277 persons who could not get vaccinated for three months as they had Covid-19.”
“However, on subsequent days including at the mega vaccination camp, some have had first dose vaccination. Even the Coonoor municipal garbage lorry keeps on asking people to get their first dose vaccination done at specific centres which means that the 100 per cent vaccination has not been reached yet,” he opined.
Social media carries many instances of people yet to be vaccinated in different parts of The Nilgiris. Many claimed that they know of persons who have not had their first dose yet, said sources.
Meanwhile, every day, around 30 people are testing positive for Covid-19 as per State records and the active cases in the Nilgiris rule above 350.
Social media activist Mahendra Sethia said, “Who are these 30-plus persons? They cannot be tourists as visitors are not tested and even if they turn positive, the cases would be added to their respective districts. So, obviously, these are from the vaccinated Nilgiris residents. The government should show more transparency in this matter”.
“While it is acceptable that some vaccinated persons can still test positive, we fear that some ‘unvaccinated’ persons in this ‘100% vaccinated’ district are reporting positive. The Government should clarify this”, Subramaniam added.
Health department officials said the people who had earlier been classified 'ineligible' due to virus infection or age factor showed up for taking first dose. The intention is to cover them all in the next three months, they said.
On the daily fresh cases, the officials clarified that some persons who had taken their first dose of vaccine reported positive. Besides, many below 18 years who are yet to be vaccinated also test positive, they said.