COVID-19: Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan's big announcement on vaccine distribution

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Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday announced that COVID-19 vaccine will be made available free of cost to all people in the state.

"No one will be charged for the vaccine. This is the stand of the government," he told reporters at Kannur. Kerala follows Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh, who have made a similar announcements. 

Vijayan said the vaccine would be allotted the Centre, but the quantity is not yet known.

"The fact is that the number of COVID-19 cases are decreasing, which is a matter of relief. However, it needs to be seen if the local body polls, two phases of which are over, would contribute to increase in cases. That will be known only in the days to come," he was quoted as saying by PTI.

Kerala on Saturday recorded 5,949 COVID-19 cases and 32 deaths, taking the caseload to 6.64 lakh and the toll to 2,594. 

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Centre said three COVID-19 vaccines, developed by Bharat Biotech, Serum Institute of India and Pfizer, respectively are under active consideration. 

The SII, world's largest vaccine maker, is already mass producing AstraZeneca's Covishield shot, while Indian biotech players Bharat Biotech and Zydus Cadila are developing their own COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

At present, Indian regulators are considering three vaccines for emergency use authorisation, including those from Pfizer. There is hope that early licence could be issued for one or all of them.