As Chennai is battling the horrendous second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic amid reporting a high infection rate and deaths, the Greater Chennai Corporation is aiming to vaccinate all the eligible people living in the city, and with the unsatisfied numbers, the civic body has launched a drive of doorstep vaccination to cover a larger populace. 

According to reports, the Greater Chennai Corporation has opened bulk vaccination registration from Saturday for resident welfare associations, big companies, non-governmental organizations, and communities. So, if you are living in an apartment complex in Chennai where there are more than a hundred people above the age of 45 who are yet to be vaccinated completely, you can receive the COVID-19 vaccine at your doorstep. 

The reports say that the civic body has circulated a form that will collect details of a nodal person, the number of people to be vaccinated, the organization or community, and a preferred location for the vaccination. The doorstep vaccination drive has come at a high time when the Tamil Nadu government has floated a tender to procure 3.5 crore vaccine doses from foreign countries.

The civic body has also been encouraging the residents who won't be eligible for the doorstep vaccination to receive the vaccine at the camps or at the Public Health Centers (PHCs). Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi said that they were not yet satisfied with the numbers that they have achieved. 

Speaking to the media, Bedi said, "We want at least 30,000 people to be vaccinated every day. We urge people to walk to the nearest special camp or PHCs to receive the vaccine." According to the civic body, nearly 20,000 people had got their vaccine shots on Saturday.  The corporation has asserted that it has enough stock of vaccines and it has prioritized vaccinations for the frontline workers in the first phase. 

The civic body will carry out the vaccination drive to cover the eligible residents through which it aims to bring back the city to normalcy. The reports say that the Greater Chennai Corporation has the capacity to vaccinate around 60,000 people a day. However, the number of vaccination per day has declined in recent days owing to various concerns. The highest vaccination count per day that the corporation has achieved is 49,010 on April 16. 

For the last two weeks, the corporation had touched 20,000 vaccinations a day only three times and the officials have been campaigning and appealing to the eligible people to receive the vaccine. According to the corporation's data, 11,312 people were vaccinated on Sunday, and overall, the city has recorded 16,99,245 vaccinations so far as of Sunday. 

On Sunday, Chennai has reported 6,247 COVID-19 cases, 5,023 discharges, and 60 deaths. Overall, the city has reported 4,38,391 cases so far of Sunday of which 47,330 are active. On Sunday, Tamil Nadu has reported 33,181 fresh COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day rise recorded by the state since the outbreak began. The state has also reported 21,317 discharges and 311 deaths. Overall, Tamil Nadu has recorded 15,98,216 COVID-19 cases so far as of Sunday of which 2,19,342 are active, 13,61,204 have been discharged, and 17,670 had succumbed to the viral infection.