Kerala To Prioritise Critically Ill, Journalists In 18-44 Age Group For Vaccinations

Vaccines would be prioritised for the critically ill, volunteers of ward-level committees who conduct home visits, and journalists in the 18-44 group, Kerala CM Pinnarayi Vijayan, announced earlier this week.

Kerala distributed1.97 lakh doses of Covidshield and 1.67 lakh doses of Covaxin through 751 centres on Monday.

The state received 3.5 lakh doses as its first consignment of 70 lakh doses of Covishield from the Serum Institute of India on Monday. The state has decided to acquire one crore doses from the manufacturers, reported OnManorama.

Kerala had reported 37,290 cases on Tuesday and is currently undergoing a complete lockdown until 19th May 2021.

The inoculation drive began with the distribution of 9.35 lakh doses in the Thiruvananthapuram district, followed by Ernakulam with 8.9 lakh doses.

The CM had also announced that community kitchens would open in 161 panchayats that did not have Kudumbashree kitchens. The Kudumbashree Mission is a community organisation that aims to work with the government for the betterment of the citizens.

The State Youth Welfare Board would also be involved in creating a special team that would help in buying medicines for patients in home isolation. The volunteers would be coordinated by district-level call centres and could be reached over phone numbers over social media.

Police personnel would be provided healthcare at home if undergoing treatment at their residences. An exclusive COVID first-line treatment centre for the police force has been set up in Kochi city. About 1,259 police officers are undergoing treatment for COVID-19.