90% beneficiaries receive single Covid-19 vaccine dose in Kerala, state health minister lauds health workers

As many as 23,995,651 people (89.84%) have been given the first dose and 9,975,323 have been inoculated with both doses in Kerala.

Almost 90% eligible beneficiaries in Kerala are inoculated with the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, while 37.35% have been administered with two doses, state health minister Veena George said on Monday. As many as 23,995,651 people (89.84%) have been given the first dose and 9,975,323 have been inoculated with both doses, she said. Further, 33,928,182 doses of the vaccine have been administered so far in the state, which is one among the worst affected by Covid-19 in India.

33,928,182 doses of the vaccine have been administered so far in Kerala. (Bloomberg | Representational image)

In a post on the social media platform Facebook, George made the announcement. Moreover, she also said that the Wayanad district in Kerala has already achieved the target and other districts like Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Idukki and Ernakulam are moving towards achieving the target.

Congratulating the health workers in these districts for their efforts, the minister also called upon the remaining people to get themselves immunised soon. She appealed to the people to shed any hesitancy about the vaccine, noting that the majority of people who lost their lives to the disease were unvaccinated and said that the vigilance against Covid-19 should continue in the state. She also stressed on the need to wear a face mask and maintain social distance and avoid public programmes, gatherings and large crowds.

Earlier on August 16, Wayanad, an important tourist destination in the state, became the first district in Kerala where all eligible adults were inoculated with the first dose of the vaccine. Further, the state has set a deadline of September 30, by which all adults should be administered at least one dose of the vaccine. The announcement from the minister came with 10 more days left for the state’s target.

Also, the announcement also comes as the Kerala government has announced dates for the reopening of educational institutes in the state. While higher education institutes would resume physical classes by October 4, schools for classes 1 to 7 and classes 10 and 12 would resume from November 1.

George reassured that the state ministries of health and education would jointly meet and evaluate the preparations on this front. The evaluations would also factor in the sero prevalence survey report expected by this month’s end, the minister added. She urged students to take their full dosage of vaccines at the earliest.

Mentioning about the spread of Dengue virus in the state, the minister asked the public to not worry and said, the propaganda that Dengue 2 is new is “baseless.” She said that Dengue virus has four variants and all have been reported from all states in India including Kerala.

On Monday, Kerala continued with its trends of declining daily Covid-19 infections after 15,692 people tested positive for the disease in the last 24 hours. Also, 92 more people succumbed to their illness. With this, the state’s tally reached 4,524,158 and the death toll rose to 23,683, a bulletin from the state government showed. The active caseload was recorded at 167,008.