As many as 1,495 government school teachers and 212 non-teaching staff in Kerala are yet to be vaccinated for COVID-19, reveals the Ministry of Higher Education. Of them, 1,066 teachers are employed in Lower Primary, Upper Primary and High Schools, 200 are in Higher Secondary schools and the remaining 229 teachers are employed in Vocational Higher Secondary Schools.

Kerala had recently announced stringent measures and public naming of teachers who are yet to be vaccinated, more than a month after schools reopened in the state. Malappuram has the maximum number of unvaccinated LP, UP and HS teachers - 184. It is followed by Kozhikode with 136 unvaccinated teachers and Thrissur with 103 unvaccinated teachers. Wayanad accounts for the least number of unvaccinated teachers - 25.

Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam, both have the maximum unvaccinated LP,  UP and HS non-teaching staff members - 23. The number is 21 in Malappuram and 17 each in Ernakulam and Malappuram. On November 28, the Minister said that more than 5,000 teachers in the state have not inoculated themselves against COVID-19. After a gap of 20 months, on November 1, the schools in the state had reopened for in-person classes and students and teachers had returned to the campus.

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Recently, the state's Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also said that those who are not inoculated will not get free COVID-19 treatment at a state government hospital. Kerala was one of the worst-affected states during the second COVID wave. Yesterday, the state recorded 4,700 fresh COVID infections.