The State government has decided to administer at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine to people above 40 years of age by July 15.
The decision was announced by the Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, after a review meeting on COVID here on Saturday.
Mr. Vijayan directed all departments to make preparations on a war footing to combat the third wave of COVID-19, which some experts believe is imminent. Maximum cooperation of the public should be ensured in this endeavour, he said.
As age seems to be the biggest vulnerability as far as COVID is concerned, the State has taken the conscious decision to cover the maximum number of people, who are likely to have the beginnings of lifestyle diseases, with at least one dose of vaccine.
The government is directly purchasing vaccines to administer to 56 prioritised groups in the 18-44 age group. The 40-45 age band at the upper end of this group has now been chosen for universal vaccination in the hope that more vaccines could be made available this month.
In the 45 plus age group, nearly 50 lakh people are yet to receive even a single dose of vaccine. The State was hoping to increase the pace of vaccination as 38 lakh doses of vaccine was expected to be available this month, Mr. Vijayan said.
The State, in preparation to meet the third wave of COVID-19, has already prepared a surge plan for public health facilities, with focus on paediatric ICU and high-end care facilities, as it is being given to believe that the disease burden might shift to children, who are now totally unimmunised against COVID-19.
Mr. Vijayan said that as part of the preparations, genetic surveillance will be heightened and that vaccine breakthrough infections and infections in children would be monitored. Genetic surveillance data from the State would be analysed systematically every week for early warnings about any new mutations in the circulating virus strains.
