THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Health minister
KK Shailaja said that the
dry run of the Covid-19
vaccination held at selected pockets in the state on Saturday was a success. The minister has claimed that the necessary preparations for administering the
vaccine were complete.
Shailaja said the government expects the vaccine to reach the state earlier as no specific date for the delivery of the same has been intimated by the centre.
“Health experts have certified the
Covishield vaccine as effective and free of side effects. There is no need to panic. The state is ready for the systematic administering of the vaccine to all people, on a priority basis,” the minister said.
The state government has already decided on the priority group, as per the instructions from the centre. “We have readied the plan for hassle-free storage and distribution of the vaccine,” the minister said. She was interacting with the media after personally assessing the dry run conducted at Peroorkkada government hospital here.
“We usually conduct mock drills when confronted with unusual situations. Apart from what the centre government has offered, the state has made additional arrangements for the safe-keep of the vaccine in
cold storage. About 3.13 lakh people belonging to the priority sector have already registered for vaccination.
“After health workers, it’s the elderly people who get the preference. The state would require at least 50 lakh doses of vaccine to be administered to the elderly population alone. We would ask the centre to provide us enough quantity of vaccine to meet our requirement,” she said.
Meanwhile, the minister added that a disciplined effort from the health department has helped the state to bring the impact of
Covid-19 under control.
“Though at one time we expected the number of cases to go up to 20,000 (daily), it never happened,” she said.
The dry run for the vaccination was held in four districts. Besides,
Thiruvananthapuram, Idukki, Palakkad and Wayanad held dry runs between 9 am and 11 am. A batch of 25 health workers participated in the dry run in each centre. Senior officials in the health department oversaw the preparations in the districts.
Meanwhile, 14 lakh disposable auto-disable syringes reached the storage depot in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.