While giving out encouraging news of vaccinating over 1.88 crore people against COVID-19 in the state, Kerala Health Minister Veena George also revealed a depressing statistic - the state had almost no vaccination doses left to give its people. "The Union government had given 1.66 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines. The state has been able to use this and administer vaccination doses for 1.88 crore people. However, the massive vaccination drives in the last few days have now left several districts with absolutely no stock of vaccine doses," Minister Veena George told reporters on Monday.
Among the population aged 45 years or above in the state, 76% have received at least one dose of vaccination, while 35% got both the doses, the Minister said. "In the districts of Wayanad and Kasargod, we have been able to vaccinate 100% of the people identified as belonging to the 45+ age group," she said. This amounted to 2,72,333 people in Wayanad and 3,50,648 people in Kasargod.
Since July 18, the state has been giving vaccination doses in large numbers in an attempt to vaccinate the maximum number of people amid the risks of spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus.
In a release sent by the minister's office on July 24, it said that 4.5 lakh people were vaccinated in Kerala on a single day. The release had revealed that the doses that were left behind might be sufficient for only a day more. On July 19, in another mass drive, 3.44 lakh people were vaccinated.
A few days ago the minister refuted allegations that as many as 10 lakh vaccines were piling up unused in the state.
Meanwhile, the number of new COVID-19 cases reported everyday in the state has been unabated for many weeks. In a small relief the Test Positivity Rate, which has been above 12% and 13% the last few days, has come down to 10.59% on Monday, with 11,586 among 1,09,382 people testing positive for the coronavirus.