Wayanad: Noolpuzha in the Wayanad district has become the first tribal panchayat to be fully vaccinated in Kerala, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in a Facebook post on Sunday.
Of the 22,616 residents of Noolpuzha above 18 years, 21,964 have been vaccinated with the first dose, Vijayan wrote. Noolpuzha is the second most inhabited tribal panchayat in the State.
Those yet to be vaccinated were either infected by COVID-19 in the last three months or their primary contacts, the CM noted.
According to the CM's post, Noolpuzha has 7,602 tribespeople above 18, of whom 7,352 have been inoculated. Among them, 6,975 were vaccinated at special tribal vaccination camps.
The camps were held at five schools in the panchayat and the tribespeople were taken there in vehicles arranged by the tribal department. Besides, bedridden patients and those who could not attend the camps were vaccinated at their homes, the CM said.
For the residents of the tribal colonies without an identity document such as Aadhaar and voter ID, or a phone number, a special provision was made on the COWIN app to register them using the reference ID of an individual in the colony itself, the post said.
Vijayan added that before declaring the panchayat as fully vaccinated the health department had conducted a five-day mop-up camp.
