Second phase of vaccination after Feb. 15

Govt. planning to increase number of vaccination centres, says Minister

The second phase of COVID-19 vaccination will begin in the State after February 15, Health Minister K.K. Shylaja has said.

Priority would be given to COVID-19 frontline warriors once health workers were covered, the Minister said here on Saturday. The government was planning to increase the number of vaccination centres to 249 with each district equipped with at least 14 centres, Ms. Shylaja said.

With the State set to ramp up the vaccination drive, the Health Department has drawn up an action plan for the upcoming phase. Health workers who have received the first shot of the Covishield vaccine will be ready for their second and final jab by February 13. The vaccination schedule had been designed so that the first phase was completed by February 15 and the second phase would start soon after, the Minister said.

In all, 4,87,306 persons, including health-care workers and frontline warriors have registered for receiving the vaccination. Of the total registrations, 3,93,345 are health workers, including 1,86,017 from the government sector and 2,07,328 from the private sector. As many as 2,965 Central government health workers also have enrolled.

Meanwhile, the registration of COVID-19 warriors was progressing in the State, the Health Minister said. So far, 75,572 employees under the Home Department, 6,600 municipal workers and 8,824 Revenue Department staff had registered their names.

Increasing the number of vaccination centres forms a key component of the action plan formulated by the department. The State was allotted 133 vaccination centres in the first phase. With the arrival of more vaccine consignments, the number of centres would be increased, the Minister said.

In all, 141 centres are now equipped for the vaccination programme. The plan is to increase it to 249 in the next stage. Under this plan, 38 centres will be equipped in Ernakulam district and 30 in Thiruvananthapuram. Every district would have at least 14 vaccination centres, she said.

Initially, the government had allocated four days a week for the vaccination (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday). But the districts could make changes to ramp up the vaccination drive, the Health Minister said.

Health workers scheduled to receive the shot would be alerted 48 hours in advance. The vaccination centres have been directed to administer the vaccine to other registered health workers if they cannot make it on the designated day.

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