The State government is again contemplating the prospects of vaccine production in the State and has initiated discussions with experts in the area of vaccine manufacturing, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said here on Friday.
The government was exploring whether branches of vaccine manufacturing firms could be opened on the campus of the Institute of Advanced Virology in the capital, he added.
A webinar is being hosted to discuss the possibilities of taking this project forward, in which experts in the area of vaccinology, IAV scientists as well as the State Council for Science Technology and Environment will participate.
He said the State had run out of the vaccines given by the Centre and that the matter had been intimated to the Health Ministry. The State was exploring all means of making more vaccines available, including direct purchase from manufacturers as well as importing vaccines.
The government would make special arrangements for providing vaccines to those who were going abroad for job or higher education, if vaccination certification is compulsory for them. If necessary, certificates could be issued to such individuals after affixing the passport number too, he said.
2-deoxy-D-glucose
He said that Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd had given orders for 50,000 doses of the anti-viral drug, 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG), developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, in collaboration with Dr. Reddy's Laboratories.
The drug, which claims to stop viral replication, had the approval of Drugs Control General of India and was expected to be available for use in the State by June, Mr. Vijayan said.
He said the next three weeks were deemed very critical for the State as far as COVID-19 is concerned. Now that the State was past the peak of the second wave of the epidemic, ICU admissions were likely to go up soon. All District Collectors had been asked to ensure that all hospitals had sufficient number of oxygen/ICU beds and ventilators available.
Dengue threat
With the arrival of monsoon, the State could again be dealing with the outbreak of infectious diseases such as dengue.
The State’s last major outbreak of dengue had been in 2017 and given its cyclical pattern of appearance every three years, it is very likely that a major epidemic could happen in the State this year.
All households thus needed to take strict measures to prevent water stagnation within and outside homes where mosquitoes could breed. All Sundays should be observed as ‘dry days,’ Mr. Vijayan, said.
