Chennai, Nov 25 (IANS): Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian has said that the state has inoculated 76 per cent of its population with the first dose of vaccine.

In a statement on Wednesday, the minister said that 40 per cent of the people have received their second dose of vaccine and the state aims to vaccinate 100 per cent of the population with the first dose before November end.

Ma Subramanian, while speaking to IANS said, "We are conducting two mega vaccine camps every week and this has improved the overall vaccinations in the state. Tuesday we inoculated 3.4 lakh people in rural areas through door-to-door campaigning and measures like this are helping us improve the vaccinations among the people."

A total of 6.71 crore people were vaccinated in the state till now and the government is increasing the number of vaccinations. He, however, said that the lack of awareness among people in some areas is a major cause of hindrance to the vaccination drive.

He said that the health department had already roped in popular movie and TV stars to help create awareness among the general public on the importance of vaccination.

The minister also called upon the people to be careful on the diseases that affect people in rains and said that dengue has claimed six lives in the state so far this year. He said that dengue has affected 4,483 persons in the state and that 513 people were under treatment at government hospitals in the state.