Risk of Unvaccinated People Succumbing to Covid-19 is 3.5 Times Higher in Tamil Nadu, Says Govt

The risk of an unvaccinated person dying of COVID-19 was 3.5 times higher in Tamil Nadu when compared to an individual who is vaccinated, the state government said on Thursday. Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said it is a substantial evidence available with the health department and should enable the common man to understand the value of vaccination and take the jabs at the earliest.

In a message to the Collectors, he said during August, September and October, 2,011 people died of Covid in Tamil Nadu, of which 5 per cent were unvaccinated, faced delay in treatment besides they had pre-existing illness. "95 per cent of the deceased (during the three months) were unvaccinated or have received only single dose of the vaccine," he pointed out.

Citing the government data, he said, "the risk of unvaccinated person dying because of Covid-19 was 3.5 times higher when compared to a vaccinated person." Noting that there was sufficient stock of vaccines available with the state, Radhakrishnan appealed to the public to get vaccinated. On the prevalence of the virus, he said districts like Erode, Namakkal, Salem, Chennai, Chengalpet were still witnessing an increase in cases while in Coimbatore and Tirupur the trend has been "erratic" with the daily cases fluctuating.

He also said districts bordering Kerala "need to continue to be alert" due to frequent movement of persons. Observing that people have stopped taking the contagion "seriously" following the decline in the number of active cases, he said, "with relaxations in place and cases having come down, we have to aim for virus suppression and prevent resurgence (of the pandemic)".

He stressed that it was extremely important to follow the five fold strategy — Covid appropriate behaviour, test, track, treat and vaccination, at this stage.The senior health official told the collectors that a system should be in place at the micro-level to ensure that whenever (Covid-19 positive) cases rise, it gets checked there itself and containment measures be followed as per the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Tamil Nadu on Thursday added 739 Covid-19 infections pushing the caseload to 27.23 lakh while 17 deaths mounted the toll to 36,432 till date.

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