Kerala Facing Major Shortage Of Covishield Vaccine: Health Minister

Kerala Health Minister Veena George said on Friday that the state is facing a massive paucity of Covishield vaccine as six districts have already run out of their vaccine stock. This revelation came a day after Kerala's overall COVID-19 cases surpassed the 41 lakh mark.

The health minister also stated that the government has made request for more vaccine doses to the Centre.

According to her statement, the districts including Kollam, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kannur, are facing the shortage with only 1.4 lakh doses remaining in the state's reserve.

However, all districts have limited stock of Covaxin, the minister said.

"We have already requested the Centre to provide more doses of vaccine at the earliest," George said here in a statement.

Pointing out that many people are reluctant to take Covaxin, she said there is no need to worry about receiving the country's indigenous jab and both vaccines are effective as well as safe.

Kerala's overall Covid cases breached 41 lakh as its consistently high daily numbers showed no signs of a let-up, with the state once again witnessing over 30,000 new infections yesterday.

The state, which recorded the country's first coronavirus case in early 2020, reported 32,097 new COVID-19 infections and 188 deaths on Thursday, which pushed the total infection count to 41,22,133 and the fatalities to 21,149.

(With PTI Inputs)