A COVID-19 vaccination drive will be held in Kerala from August 9 to 31 informed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday.
"In addition to the vaccines available to the state government, more vaccines need to be made 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. The distribution will be based on the number of vaccines that can be given through each private hospital. commercial institutions and public orgzations can arrange vaccination from the purchased vaccines for local people with the participation of hospitals. The local self-government Institutions can arrange facilities for this. The goal is to vaccinate as many as possible at the earliest," said Pinarayi Vijayan.
Vijayan was interacting with reporters in a COVID-19 review meeting on Saturday.
The CM informed that under this drive, vaccination will be administered to final year degree students, PG students, lower primary and upper primary teachers who are also part of the drive. The first dose of vaccination for senior citizens will be completed by August 15. Patients with comorbidity will be vaccinated at home.
Shopping malls will be allowed to open from 7 am to 9 pm from Monday to Saturday, in accordance with the restrictions currently in place for shops. The malls will be allowed to open from Wednesday in compliance with strict COVID-19 protocols, he further added.
Earlier on August 6, Kerala Health Minister, Veena George said that over 1.5 crore people in the state have been inoculated with the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, accounting for 42.82 percent of Kerala's population.
According to the state bulletin, Kerala has reported 281 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours. The total active case in the state is 1,78,722.
( With inputs from ANI )
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