THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The impressive pace of COVID vaccination has made Kerala one of the top states with a large population in the country. The coverage is likely to impress Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya who will be on his maiden visit to the state on Monday.
With better supplies from the Centre, the state has been able to give over five lakh jabs on consecutive days and it is on a par with Gujarat in giving at least one dose of vaccine to the people in percentage terms.
Kerala has also done better in terms of giving both doses when compared to other larger states in proportion to its population. Against the national average of 8 per cent, Kerala has fully vaccinated over 18 per cent of the population.
"Kerala has recently given over five lakh doses on consecutive days. So, it definitely has the capacity to administer more vaccines if the supply shortage is addressed. The goal is to cover all of our population. Hence, the criteria for comparison should be based on whichever states that can cover their whole population or at least all of their eligible population," said Rijo M John, a health economist.
According to him, the increase in vaccine supply meant that Kerala had done better in the previous months in vaccine use. The states have largely depended on the supply from the Centre. Utilisation of vaccines is one of the major criteria for sharing vaccines, the other being the number of eligible population and vaccine wastage.
Even with the impressive record, the health experts are of the view that Kerala should increase the pace of vaccination further by using its full capacity to save a large susceptible population.
The recent sero survey by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) found that only 44 per cent of the population in Kerala had developed immunity against COVID while a state like Gujarat had over 75 per cent immune population.
"Kerala has a need to vaccinate faster than Gujarat because of the presence of a large number of susceptible population. Naturally, Kerala will be more adversely affected when compared to other states if a third wave comes," said Rijo.
The low seroprevalence showed that the state managed to delay the peak of the second wave. But it could not match the pace of vaccine coverage to reduce the new positive cases and serious patients beyond a point, according to health experts.
With the Delta variant of virus in circulation, the experts have pointed out that a herd immunity could be achieved by covering 85 per cent of the population with vaccines.
There has been a constant demand from the state to increase the supply based on the outcome of sero survey. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is likely to take up the issue when he meets the central minister on Monday.
Low seroprevalence
The low seroprevalence showed that the state managed to delay the peak of the second wave. But it could not match the pace of vaccine coverage to reduce the new positive cases and serious patients beyond a point, say experts