Covid-19 vaccines will be provided free of cost in Kerala, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced on Saturday, the fifth state to do so after Tamil Nadu, Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Puducherry. “No one will be charged for the vaccine. This is the stand of the government,” he told reporters at Kannur.
The CM’s announcement comes even as the state continues to witness a daily rise of around 5,000 coronavirus cases. Kerala on Saturday recorded 5,949 COVID-19 cases and 32 deaths, taking the caseload to 6.64 lakh and the toll to 2,594. The active cases stood at 60,029.
Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker, is already mass producing and stockpiling AstraZeneca’s Covishield shot, while Indian biotech players Bharat Biotech and Zydus Cadila are developing their own vaccine candidates.
Last month, Indian pharmaceutical player Hetero inked a deal with Russia’s RDIF to manufacture over 100 million doses of the Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine per year in India.
At present, Indian regulators are considering three vaccines for emergency use authorisation, including those from Pfizer Inc, AstraZeneca and Bharat Biotech.
Vijayan said the quantity of the vaccine that would be allotted to the state by the Centre was not yet known.
“The fact is that the number of COVID-19 cases are decreasing, which is a matter of relief. However, it needs to be seen if the local body polls, two phases of which are over, would contribute to increase in cases. That will be known only in the days to come,” he said. If the cases do not increase, this trend (of cases declining) will continue, the chief minister added.
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