With the number of COVID-19 cases rising in Kerala and the state also witnessing an acute shortage of vaccines, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said that he will be asking the Union government to provide more vaccine doses before Onam, the most popular festival celebrated in the state which falls in the third week of August this year. The Chief Minister said the state would be asking for more vaccines as the five lakh doses expected to be received by Wednesday would be used by Friday.
Even state police chief, Anil Kant, swung into action in view of the rise in cases and directed senior IPS officers in Kerala to take charge of the districts where the number of infections are very high and to ensure effective enforcement of COVID-19 protocols. Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister told the Assembly that Kerala was one of the states which had implemented the vaccination drive in the most effective manner but admitted that it was facing challenges in fighting the pandemic.
He also lashed out at Union Health Minister Mansukh L Mandaviya, who had recently said that 10 lakh doses of vaccine, supplied to the southern state, had been left unused. "When the minister had made such a statement, there were only five lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine with the state. The present circumstance is that we are facing an acute shortage of the jab. That is the truth," Vijayan told the state Assembly.
Claiming that Kerala had made no lapse in the immunisation drive, he said the present situation was that the available vaccine stock was not enough to meet its demands. Later in the day, the CM at a review meeting about the pandemic said that the Union government will be asked to provide more doses before Onam and if the same becomes available, attempts would be made to give at least four lakh jabs per day, a state government release said.
The state on July 24 had vaccinated over 4.5 lakh people. The CM said that to make vaccination efforts more effective, it should be conducted at the local self government level. At the meeting, Pinarayi Vijayan, also said that the existing restrictions would continue. He said that clothing stores should follow COVID-19 protocols strictly when they open for business and owners should make arrangements for deploying a fixed number of staff who are vaccinated.
He said that officials concerned should monitor whether the said protocols were being followed and action should be taken in case of any violation. Vijayan also said that photo studios would be allowed to open on certain days of the week as photographs would be required for NEET exams.