JOIN USKerala stops free Covid treatment for vaccine-hesitant people
The Kerala government has decided not to provide free medical treatment to those hesitating to take Covid vaccination and getting infected.
The decision was taken as it was found that a large section, including around 5,000 school teachers, were showing hesitancy towards Covid vaccine. Some were even citing religious reasons.
A Covid review meeting convened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday decided not to provide free Covid treatment to those who were hesitating to take Covid vaccine without genuine health reasons. Government employees who did not take the vaccination should also take Covid RT-PCR test on a weekly basis at their own cost and produce the Covid negative test result.
Kerala general education minister V Sivankutty said that teachers who did not take vaccination would not be allowed to enter schools. They would have to take online classes from their home.
The Chief Minister also directed local body representatives to take serious initiative to identify people who were skipping the second dose of Covid vaccine. A special vaccination drive will be held from December 1 to 15.
DH on Tuesday reported that even as Kerala made remarkable progress in administering the first dose of Covid vaccines, the state was witnessing a lackadaisical attitude of the people towards the second dose. While 95.9 per cent of the people above the age of 18 in Kerala already took the first dose, when it comes to second dose it is only 62 per cent so far. Reports of breakthrough infections and relaxation of the lockdown restrictions were considered to be the reasons.
In view of the fresh alerts over Omicron variant of Covid the review meeting also decided to strictly screen all foreign travelers reaching the state and not to give any further relaxations in the restrictions on gatherings.
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