WHILE some districts reported a lower than usual turnout at the vaccination drive held across the state on Wednesday, government health officials said the overall response was good, with an average turnout of 95 per cent. Following the death of four infants after administration of measles vaccine in Tiruvallur district last week, the Government moved the vaccination programme from the villages to primary health centres and hospitals to be held under medical supervision. Health education on breast-feeding and child care was also provided to the mothers. "Surprisingly there is a great demand from mothers for the measles vaccine but we cannot administer it until we get clearance from the Central Government," a senior health department official said. In Tiruchy district, the turnout was 89 per cent, the lowest in the state. This was attributed to a lack of awareness. From next week, handbills are going to be distributed in all villages informing them about the vaccination programme, a health official said. He added that mothers in the urban areas of Tiruchy district were reluctant to get their children vaccinated but with more awareness next week this problem would be surmounted. "There is still some fine tuning to be done but the feedback we have got from mothers has been very good. Many of them came for the vaccination only after we assured them it would be done under medical supervision," he said. In districts, including Villipuram, the turnout was 98 per cent. Officials estimate around 15 to 20 per cent of people need to be provided with transport to access the institutions. "All the PHC vehicles were used to bring people in. We are also getting in 249 new vehicles. Autorickshaws were arranged for mothers to bring in their children and the families were re-imbursed," an official said. In Vellore district, officials estimated a 10 per cent shortage in the turnout. According to sources, the drive was carried out in 67 PHCs and 10 Government Hospitals. In Vellore HUD, a team of 231 village health nurses, 50 community health nurses and 82 doctors were engaged to carry out the drive under the supervision of the District Maternity and Child Health officer, district entomologist and assistant director (State Bureau of Health Intelligence). Officials said several precautionary measures were taken at the PHCs including keeping an emergency medicine tray containing life-savings drugs, respiration equipment and emergency vehicles for transportation. Babies were screened by doctors both before and after the vaccination. Some mothers felt the government should provide transport to avoid exposing children to heat. In Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi, vaccines were administered to infants at the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital and 62 PHCs in the presence of the medical officers. As the City Health Officer was absent, no vaccine was given within the corporation limits. Deputy Director, Department of Health Services, Tirunelveli, Meeran Mohideen, said that the administration of vaccines would commence in all the eight health posts in the corporation limit after the meeting to be convened with medical officers on Friday. . "After the death of the babies in Tiruvallur, I was nervous about getting my daughter vaccinated. But this new scheme is much better because injections are given under the doctor's supervision," said Gayathri, a mother.