Tamil Nadu is one of the worst performing states in the country when it comes to vaccinating its older residents, and also has low inoculation coverage, according to various surveys. Government officials say that vaccine hesitancy among the elderly and initial hiccups in the inoculation drive are to blame, but that things had picked up after the second wave.
A poll by Observer Research Foundation (ORF) states that just 559 persons in Tamil Nadu aged 60 and up have received a vaccination shot out of every 1,000. Only about 5.8 million of the state’s 10 million older citizens have received at least one dose of the vaccine. This is the lowest figure among all 29 states and seven Union Territories. In fact, neighbouring states like Karnataka, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh have done quite well in vaccinating their senior residents. In the meantime, the national average for this age group is anticipated to be 947.3 per 1,000 people.
The state must brace itself since the elderly citizen age group is among the most vulnerable, said an ORF researcher, adding that before the third wave begins, the state should have a strategy in place that focuses on completely vaccinating senior individuals in order to avoid additional COVID-19 casualties.
J Radhakrishnan, Tamil Nadu’s Health Secretary told the News Minute that just considering per capita vaccination and population to determine vaccination coverage is unfair because the state’s ability to vaccinate its people is also dependent on vaccine dose availability. He went on to say that Tamil Nadu has a long history of vaccine aversion.
“In the first four months of the vaccination drive, Tamil Nadu saw a high vaccine hesitancy among the population. Added to this was the death of actor Vivek, which was a big blow to our efforts to create awareness about getting immunised against COVID-19,” Radhakrishnan told TNM.
In the first four months (January to April 2021), he said, Tamil Nadu was only vaccinating anywhere from 5-15 lakh people every month, but that things “picked up” during the second wave, with more people opting to take vaccines.
He said that in August 2021, the state administered over 85 lakh doses. Reports say that the state administered over 96 percent of the vaccine stock given to government centres in August, when the state received 57 lakh vaccine doses from the Union government.
He said the numbers would be concerning only if vaccine consumption was low in the state. “But every time we get a fresh stock, it only lasts 3-4 days. Most of the vaccine centres across the state are packed. The total vaccination coverage is low mostly due to the initial challenge that we faced with vaccine hesitancy. Now that that is not a challenge anymore, we will see the numbers picking up,” Radhakrishnan said, adding that the average will remain low compared to other states due to the hiccups in the first few months.
In August 2021, the average number of vaccinations administered in Tamil Nadu per day was 2.7 lakh, up from 2.1 lakh in July and 1.9 lakh in June. Tamil Nadu has already been assigned 1.04 crore jabs for September and intends to vaccinate 5 lakh people every day.
However, when it comes to low vaccine coverage among the elderly, government authorities say they are reviewing the statistics to better understand the causes.
The state is putting in place a focused strategy to vaccinate more senior individuals, Joint Director, Directorate of Public Health Tamil Nadu TS Selvavinayagam told the News Minute. “We are compiling a list of old people who have yet to get vaccinated. We are always working to raise public awareness, and we are also exploring mega drives in which we vaccinate large numbers of individuals in a single day,” he stated.
Meanwhile, another survey on Covid-19 vaccination hesitancy done by the Tamil Nadu government in July indicated that the senior population in the state was the most apprehensive when compared to other age groups.
The poll was conducted by the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (DPH) to assess people’s attitudes on vaccination in Tamil Nadu. In the state, up to 95 clusters were chosen at random, with each cluster consisting of 30 random dwellings.
Vaccine hesitation was highest among those over the age of 60, with 27.6 percent hesitant to take the jab, followed by those between the ages of 18 and 45, who were 16.9 percent apprehensive, and those between the ages of 45 and 60, who were 18.2 percent afraid. The total number of respondents polled in these three groups was 488, 1596, and 771, respectively. The poll included a diverse group of people, including professionals, unemployed, students, illiterates, and retirees.
Approximately 2,855 persons were polled, and vaccine hesitancy was found in 19.7 percent of males and 18.4 percent of women.
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