The committee on Adverse Events following Immunisation (AEFI) in Kerala has assessed that there are no cases of serious side effects reported from the 8,062 persons who were administered the Covid-19 vaccine on Saturday, including senior health officials and hospital superintendents.
Most had experienced pain at the injection site, general body pain, nausea, fatigue, fever and flu-like symptoms. Mild side effects and fever-like reactions should be naturally expected just as in the case of childhood vaccinations like DPT and others, the committee said.
New infections unabated
On Sunday, the State reported 5,005 new cases of Covid-19 when 52,310 samples were tested since Saturday. Test positivity rate came in at 9.57 per cent, much higher than the past two days. The active case pool has risen to 68,991 while and 4,408 recovered from the disease.
A total of 21 new deaths on Sunday were reported to the official list has taken the toll to 3,463, so far. Of the new cases reported on Sunday, 68 reported a history of travel outside the State while 4,937 are locally-acquired infections.
New vaccination schedule
Vaccinations resumed on Monday with healthcare workers being accorded priority. Henceforth, the procedure would be carried out on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
The State will continue to have 133 sites and the target will be to administer the vaccine to 100 persons at every site. In Thiruvananthapuram district, the Government Medical College Hospital will be a vaccination site from Monday, while a site would be opened at General Hospital on Tuesday.
AEFI kits, ambulance facility
From Monday, vaccination will be held in the designated sites from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m. Registered health workers will receive an SMS message with regard to the site and time allocated to them. Every person receiving the vaccine will be kept under observation for 30 minutes.
All sites have been equipped with AEFI kits as well as ambulance facilities in the event of any serious adverse reaction, requiring hospitalisation. After healthcare workers, it would be the turn of frontline workers, including police, revenue staff, municipal workers, ASHA and anganwadi workers.