It is quite worrying that the number of people dying due to COVID-19 in the State has been increasing in proportion to the rise in disease transmission. However, a significant proportion of the fatalities was elderly persons who are yet to be vaccinated, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said here. The few elderly who were vaccinated and yet succumbed to COVID-19 were those who had several co-morbidities, he said.
‘Vaccine hesitancy’
An estimated 9 lakh persons above 60 years and who have co-morbidities remain unvaccinated in the State, significantly contributing to COVID-19 mortality now. Most of these people seem to have vaccine hesitancy or irrational fears over the side effects of vaccination.
In fact, side-effects of vaccination have been found to be less in elderly than in youngsters. These unvaccinated elderly and co-morbid persons are at serious risk of mortality if they contract COVID-19 and should get vaccinated as soon as possible.
List being prepared
The list of unvaccinated elderly is being prepared and all efforts would be taken to persuade them to get vaccinated.
Mr. Vijayan reiterated that those with co-morbidities should not stay at home if they test positive for COVID-19 as the management during the initial days of the disease is crucial. Delay in hospitalising these persons could result in mortality.
He said that in this situation of the pandemic, the government’s sole aim is to protect people from the disease as much as possible and to save lives.
While all preparations have been made to combat a possible third wave, the government has also taken vaccination at a campaign mode to administer at least the first dose of vaccine to as many people as possible by September 30.
Mr. Vijayan, reacting to the criticism about the “failed Kerala Model”, pointed out that eminent public health experts and epidemiologists like Dr. Gagandeep Kang and Jayaprakash Mooliyil had praised Kerala’s COVID containment strategy as a model for the rest of the country.
The low seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the State, as reported by the ICMR, is a clear indicator of the success of the State’s containment efforts. Delta virus variant had arrived much later in Kerala than the rest of the country, which is why the State was now witnessing an increased disease transmission, a situation that all other States had gone through much earlier.
The State was thus trying to control disease transmission on the one hand, while trying to reduce mortality and keep people protected through vaccination on the other, Mr. Vijayan said.
