Chennai, Oct 11 (IANS): The Tamil Nadu health department has vaccinated 22.5 lakh people in the fifth mega vaccination drive. The drive had targeted 15 lakh people, but achieved much more than the target. According to the statement from the state health department, 7.25 lakh more people were vaccinated than the target figure of 15 lakhs.

The drive happened on Sunday. The State Health Department announced that there would not be vaccination in Tamil Nadu on Monday. The reason for this, however, was not mentioned by the administration.

In the mega vaccination camp on Sunday, 22,52,641 people were vaccinated of which 11,50,351 received the first dose of the vaccine and the rest got the second dose. Chennai district vaccinated 1,63,884 people in 1,000 camps while Coimbatore stood second with 1,09,582 people followed by Salem district with 1,00,359 .

According to a report of the state health department, 3,74,20,314 people have been administered the first dose of the vaccine in the state while 1,29,38,551 people have got the second dose of the jab till Saturday evening.

A statement from the state health department said Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin has appealed to the people of Tamil Nadu to make use of the vaccination centres nearer to their residences to take the jab and not to show any complacency in taking the vaccine.

State health minister Ma Subramanian while speaking to IANS said, "The response of the public to the vaccination drive is good and we have already administered more than 5 crore vaccines to the people of the state from government centres alone. The awareness created among the public has led to the large number of vaccinations being taken from across the state during these mega vaccine drives. We hope that we will be able to maintain the momentum and vaccinate the entire population of the state with at least one dose of vaccine in the days to come."

The state health department in its assessment, according to a senior health department official, has found that the awareness programmes in FM radios and local television channels and cable networks, as well as social media campaigns, had led to the spurt in vaccinations.

People have shunned the complacency and fear of vaccination and participated in large numbers to take the jab, the official said.

The senior officer while speaking to IANS said, "Movie and Television stars had supported our awareness campaign on vaccination and this has helped people come out in large numbers to take the jab."