In the first phase, the Kerala government has reportedly requested the Centre to provide five lakh Covid vaccines and also demanded to make Covishield available. As the number of Covid patients in Kerala is increasing, the state government has asked the Centre to consider the state as priority regarding the distribution of vaccines.
Earlier, Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja has said that the State was fully equipped for the distribution of vaccines and it would accept any vaccine that the Centre decides to offer them. The reasons cited for demanding priority in vaccine distribution include a spike in cases, population density, the highest number of patients with diabetics, other lifestyle diseases and elderly people.
Kerala has been witnessing a huge spike in the Coronavirus cases for the last two months even after keeping the spread in check for several months. In the country, Kerala has the highest number of diabetic patients and a large number of patients battling cardiac, cancer, and other diseases, which make them more prone to the pandemic. Also, the State has a high population density which could accelerate the spread at a higher rate. It is expected that vaccines will be first administered to nearly 3.5 lakh health workers, medical students, Asha-Anganwadi workers, and aged people.
On Monday, through a tweet, BJP’s IT department national in-charge Amit Malviya mocked the State’s vaccine demand.
Meanwhile, according to the health department, Ernakulam district in Kerala has the highest number of Covid cases. Around 2.62 per cent of the total population of the district is affected by the infection. According to official figures, one in 38 people in the district is affected by Covid.
Kerala is currently the worst pandemic hit state in the country with 65,467 active cases alone. The state reported 4,602 new cases on Monday.
