On Saturday, former Chief Minister and veteran CPM leader VS Achuthanandan received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The 97-year-old leader, who has not been active in the election campaign due to his deteriorating health, took the vaccine from Thiruvananthapuram general hospital.

After receiving the vaccine, the veteran took to his Facebook page to express his experience. “Today, I have contributed a major role in the fight against COVID-19. I would like to express my satisfaction and happiness for taking the COVID vaccine from Thiruvananthapuram general hospital at 9.30 am on Saturday. Let’s move forward with the hope that we will overcome," VS wrote on his Facebook page. His wife K Vasumathy taken the vaccine earlier.

VS Achuthanandan, who was Chief Minister of the state between 2006 and 2011, was active during the LDF campaigns of the 2011 and 2016 assembly elections. On January 31 this year, Achuthanandan announced that he was stepping down as Chairman of the State Administrative Reforms Commission.

Meanwhile, it was recently Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and ministers KK Shailaja, E Chandrasekharan and Ramachandran Kadannappally had taken the first dose of Covid vaccine.