Puducherry, Jun 18 (IANS): Mahe district in the Union Territory of Puducherry has injected the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to 90 per cent of its population, officials said on Friday.

With this achievement, Mahe district has become second in the country to administer the first dose to 90 per cent of its population after South Delhi.

Mahe has a population of nearly 45,000. Of this, the targeted population for vaccination is much less as the under 18 age group were excluded.

Of the 20,908 adult population above the age of 45, 90 per cent have been given the first dose of the vaccine, according to the Mahe regional health department officials.

Twenty-three per cent of this population above the age of 45 was given the second dose of the vaccine as well, officials said.

Other than this, approximately 85 per cent of the 13,050 people between the age group of 18-44 have also been given the first dose of the vaccine.

Shivraj Meena, Regional Administrator, Mahe, told IANS: "When I took charge, there was confusion and people were a bit reluctant to take the jab fearing side effects. Immediately I called upon a meeting of political parties, religious leaders and other concerned people and explained to them the need to expedite the process of vaccination for the betterment of society.

"I also told that if we don't vaccinate the second wave is going to hit us badly and luckily for me, people understood the gravity of the situation and we could carry out the vaccination drive properly."

He also said that meticulous planning was behind the success of the vaccination drive in the Mahe area.