Tamil Nadu health official said the first list of people who should be vaccinated on priority in Tamil Nadu is ready and 21,000 personnel were being trained for deployment and 46,000 centres has been identified in the State to roll-out the immunisation programme as and when the vaccine is made available. The first list includes five lakh health workers, all other frontline personnel like those from municipal administration, revenue and police, the elderly and those with co-morbidities is ready, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said. 

The much needed infrastructure to handle the immunisation drive like cold chain facilities was ready, he told reporters. Tamil Nadu has as many as 51 walk-in coolers and 2,800 secondary cold storage points are made ready, he added. “Vaccines are expected in January. The approval for vaccines should come from the Centre.” Since TN has more elderly population, it is expected that the State could be allocated more vaccines, health secretary said.

For a question about UK returnees status, secretary said,  “We are in touch with the Pune authorities and will inform the state authorities once the results are out. All his 15 travel mates have been traced and efforts are on to contact all 70 co-passengers who came in the flight". The genomic analysis of a sample from the UK returnee, who tested positive, could be expected around December 28, according to the National Institute of Virology, and TN has requested the facility to expedite it, Radhakrishnan said. He is continuing the treatment at the King’s Institute for Preventive Medicine and Research. 

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