THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The slow pace of vaccination is likely to hamper the gains made by the state over a year by keeping a large majority of the population from Covid-19 infection, according to health experts. As per the latest sero prevalence survey by ICMR, only 12% of the people tested had developed antibodies, which means that a larger number of people are still susceptible to infection.
“Kerala is in a dream situation for slowing down the infection. The Centre should allocate more vaccine doses for a state like Kerala to prevent further spread of infection,” said a public health expert who is a member of a state government-formed Covid-19 core committee.
“Vaccinating a larger population resulted in a decline in infection in many countries. Israel has done it and New Zealand and Australia are going to do it. But, here, even states with high sero-prevalence are getting more vaccine doses,” he said.
The state government attributed the current spread of infection among the susceptible population with the relaxation in restrictions. According to health experts, slowing down vaccination would lead to chances for a second wave of infection.
“There is an urgent need to speed up vaccination. The state has the health infrastructure and manpower for mass immunisation. We can increase the vaccination centres to 3,000 with the support of private hospitals,” said Indian Medical Association state secretary Dr Gopikumar P. The IMA has sent representations to the chief minister and health minister to press for more vaccine doses.
Meanwhile, the Central government allocates vaccine doses to the states based on the completion of targets set for each phase. The vaccination process in the state has been dragging from the beginning as beneficiaries are sceptical of the new vaccine. The vaccination of the frontline workers has further slowed due to concerns surrounding Covaxin, which has not completed trials, distributed in the second phase.