Coronavirus: Kerala says 'ready for inoculation drive', sets up 133 centres for vaccine

After the Centre announced on Saturday the date for the launch of nationwide vaccination, Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja has said that an action plan has been prepared by the state government for undertaking the vaccination drive across the state.

"The Department of Health has formulated an action plan to ensure that the COVID-19 vaccine is delivered soon after arriving and that the vaccination is successful. During the launch, as many as 133 centres will be set up for COVID-19 vaccination in the state," Shailaja said while adding that more centres for vaccination will be set up in future. 

While stating that the maximum number of centres have been set up in Ernakulam district, he said, "There will be 12 centres in Ernakulam district and 11 centres each in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode districts. The remaining districts will have 9 centres each. All types of institutions including government sector allopathic-AYUSH and private hospitals will be included."

"Arrangements are being made to vaccinate 100 people a day at one centre. Each centre will have a waiting area, vaccination room and observation room. Centres will be set up in compliance with COVID-19 standards," she said.

The vaccination drive will be the responsibility of district collectors and the control room will be set up to coordinate vaccination activities in the districts, she informed, while adding that the cold storage network is fully equipped along with replacement system in case of damage to the cold storage.

"Employees are being trained at the district and block level. The task force will meet in all the districts to evaluate the activities and report to the health department," she said.

The dry run was conducted in 52 centres in the state in two phases - the first one on January 4 and the second one on January 8.

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Vaccination to begin on January 16

After two successful nationwide 'dry runs', the Centre has decided to kick-off the nationwide vaccination drive on 16 January. The decision came after the Prime Minister chaired a high-level review meeting with Cabinet Secretary, Principal Secretary to PM, Health Secretary, and other senior officials to review the status of COVID-19 in the country along with the preparedness of the State/UTs for COVID vaccination. PM Modi is also said to hold a virtual meeting with chief ministers of various states regarding the vaccination drive across the country.

Nearly three crore healthcare and frontline workers would be inoculated first in the vaccination drive across the country, followed by citizens above 50 years and those under 50 years with comorbidities and then lastly the general public.

(Image: PTI)

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