Covid-19 vaccine to be free for all in India’s Kerala, announces chief minister

Kerala is the latest Indian state to announce Covid-19 vaccine for its people, free of cost.

Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan announced on Saturday that the state government would provide free Covid-19 vaccine to all the people in the state, reports The Indian Express.

Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh are among the Indian states that have previously made a similar announcement, according to The Indian Express report.

While it is not known how many doses of vaccine would be available for distribution in Kerala, but the state will distribute the vaccine free of cost and no fee will be levied, the chief minister said.

CM Vijayan also said that although there is a slight increase in daily covid-19 deaths in the state, the test positivity rate is down to 10 percent.

If a fresh wave of infections is not triggered by the local body elections, the present trend of decline will continue, he added.

Kerala reported 5,949 cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours till Saturday, while the number of total active cases stood at 60,029.