KOCHI: The recent surge in the number of Covid-19 cases across the country poses a fresh challenge to the state.
According to the experts, new strains of Covid-19 have been reported from across the country, triggering concerns regarding a fresh wave of infections in the state.
Vaccination is the only way in which the spread of the virus can be contained.
Experts opine that the time has come to make vaccinations available to people above 18 and set up walk-in centres for facilitating more vaccinations irrespective of age category and restrictions.
The state is gearing up to vaccinate over one crore of its populace aged 45 and above, irrespective of comorbidities, in April.
A decision regarding this was taken at the virtual meeting called by the chief secretary on Friday.
If the Centre were to relax the stringent criteria for Covid-19 vaccination, the state government will be able to vaccinate almost all the vulnerable sections and those requiring vaccination at the earliest.
“Though the state has decided to take steps to vaccinate more people, there is little that the state can do without the Centre easing its restrictions. With the Centre imposing restrictions on the CoWin portal and controlling the supply of vaccine doses to the state, the goal of vaccinating large sections of the population will be hard to achieve,” said Gopikumar P, IMA state secretary.
“For a state like Kerala, it will not be a major challenge to set up walk-in centres for vaccinations. However, strict crowd control and availability of facilities like waiting areas with social distancing, for those getting vaccinated, are two major aspects which should be ensured. It is mandatory for patients to remain at the hospital for at least 30 minutes, after getting the jab, to observe adverse reactions. It is not necessary that all the hospitals should have that sort of space to allot,” said Anup R Warrier, infectious diseases expert.
Meanwhile, several hospitals across the state are seeing a dip in the number of people turning up for vaccination.
“Last week, around 350 people used to turn up daily to get themselves vaccinated, but their numbers have come down to around 50 by Friday. A similar dip was seen in the case of various private hospitals,” said a doctor at a major private hospital here.
The state government and administration in the respective districts have unveiled plans and started initiatives for setting up vaccination centres and providing ambulance facilities with the aim of vaccinating more people.