Thiruvananthapuram: A study by the Kerala State Health Department is an eye-opener for cynics as it has revealed that most of the COVID-19 fatalities in the last few months did not take a single dose of vaccination. Out of the 9,195 people who died due to the pandemic disease from June 18 to September 3, 2021 only 905 (9.84%) were vaccinated.
About 700 persons who died had taken only one dose of the vaccine. Among the dead, only 200 persons had taken both doses of the vaccine. The study pointed out that most of these dead had other serious ailments.
Notably, during the period of the study the death rate had shot up in Kerala with the emergence of the Delta variant of the coronavirus which brings about the disease that has been raging world over since the early part of 2020.
District-wise break-up
Most deaths, 1,021, during this two-and-a-half-month period were reported from Thrissur district. Among the dead in Thrissur, only 60 people had taken at least one dose of the vaccine.
In Palakkad, out of the 958 people who died due to the pandemic in the same period, only 89 people had taken at least one dose of the vaccine.
The districts where more than 50 deaths were reported from among those who were vaccinated are: Ernakulam (81), Kozhikode (74), Malappuram (73) and Pathanamthitta (53).
The average percentage of deaths from among those who had taken all the two rounds of vaccines is just 15 in every district.
67.43 % AMONG DEAD HAD SERIOUS AILMENTS
Out of the total 9,195 deaths, 6,200 (67.43%) people had serious ailments. About 2,995 people died though they didn't have any serious complications.
The serious ailments that were found afflicting the COVID-19 fatalities are diabetes (26.41%), cardiac problems (11.07%), kidney problems (8.19%), respiratory problems (4.14%), pralysis (2.73%) and thyroid (1.67%).
Significantly, the share of people with cancer who had died of COVID-19 was very low.
VACCINE RELUCTANCE
Even though the Kerala Government claims that it has given the first dose of vaccines to almost 92 percent of people above 45 years, it is assessed that many older people, who are down with serious ailments, have not even taken a single dose of the vaccine. The study points to the need for monitoring those people.
The Chief Minister had recently pointed out that almost 9 lakh people in the aged category, having serious ailments, were not ready to take vaccines.
Two doses of the vaccine against COVID-19 are prescribed for vaccine efficacy. The death toll began to be tallied at the district level only from June 18, the base date for the study.
