In response to the high number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases, the Kerala government will begin a mass inoculation drive across the state on Monday. According to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the drive will last until August 31.
The emphasis will be on inoculating final-year degree students, post-graduate students, and lower and upper primary school teachers. By August 15, the first dose of vaccination for senior citizens will be completed. Vaccination will be done at home for patients with comorbidities.
Vijayan had said that the state government will make more Covid-19 vaccine available to the private sector. “The state government will buy 20 lakh doses of vaccines and provide them to private hospitals at the same rate,” he had said in a statement on Saturday.All of this is being done in order to vaccinate as many people as possible, according to the chief minister. He also urged
businesses and government agencies to make vaccines available to residents.
Kerala’s health minister, Veena George, announced last week that the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine has been administered to over 1.5 crore people (15 million), accounting for 42.82 percent of the state’s population.
From August 11, the state government will also implement new and more stringent guidelines. Only those who have received at least one dose of the vaccine or who have RT-PCR negative certificates taken 72 hours before can enter stores, according to the new guidelines.
This will apply to both employees and visitors who come to the state.
On Sunday, Kerala reported 18,607 cases of Covid-19. The daily caseload fell below 20,000 for the first time in a week. According to the state government’s health department, the positivity rate is 13.87 percent.
