Kerala Sets New Record, Vaccinates Over 450,000 People In A Day

Kerala achieved a milestone on Saturday, July 24, as the state vaccinated more than 450,000 people against COVID. About 453,339 people were administered the jab.

As of July 24, the state has administered vaccines to 18,465,580 people of which 12,878,310 have received the first dose while the rest 5,587,270 have been administered with their second dose. The state's Health Minister Veena George said, "By vaccinating over 450,000 in a span of 24 hours, Kerala showed it is the best state when it comes to inoculation."

The minister added that all healthcare workers have received the first dose of the vaccine.

Health Minister Flags Vaccine Shortage

The minister also flagged the shortage of vaccines in the state and said that if the Centre does not provide more vaccines, the inoculation drive could come to a halt indefinitely.

There are around 1,522 vaccination centres of which 1,380 are run by the government and the remaining are private, she added. Of the 14 districts in the state, Kannur topped the list by vaccinating 59,374 people, followed by Thrissur at 53,841 doses and Kottayam with 51,276 doses. The record vaccination, however, has triggered a political row.

Last week, Union Health Minister Mansuk Mandviya said the state had not used 10 lakh doses given by the Centre in June. George also added that vaccination in the state was higher than the national average.

After being initially, being praised for its management of the virus, Kerala has been witnessing a record number of COVID cases. The state has continued to report a high rise in daily cases as compared to the rest of India, consecutively constituting nearly 40 per cent of the country's daily cases in the past few days. On July 18, the state reported 36.6 per cent of the country's daily cases, 42.2 percent on July 21 and 44.8 percent on July 23.