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As jabs arrive, Karnataka set to vaccinate 18+ from today
The Karnataka government on Sunday said that it would open up vaccination for people between the age groups of 18-44 from Monday in public hospitals and medical college hospitals after it received fresh stocks
The Karnataka government on Sunday said that it would open up vaccination for people between the age groups of 18-44 from Monday in public hospitals and medical college hospitals after it received fresh stocks.
“Starting Monday, Covid-19 vaccination will be provided for citizens aged between 18 and 44 years at K C General Hospital, Jayanagar General Hospital, Sir C V Raman General Hospital, Government Medical Colleges, ESI Hospitals and NIMHANS in Bengaluru,” K Sudhakar, Karnataka’s minister for health, family welfare and medical education said in a statement. The number of vaccination centres would be increased as and when more vaccines are available, the minister added.
All such centres providing vaccination for the 18-44 age group would have an exclusive session site earmarked for them, he said,adding the shots would be given only to those who have registered and scheduled an appointment on the Co-Win portal.
The announcement comes at a time when vaccine shortages continue to haunt the southern state and its capital, Bengaluru, that remain firmly under the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In the order placed by Karnataka Govt to procure 20 million doses of Covishield, we received 3.5 lakh (three and a half thousand doses) on Saturday night taking the total delivery to 6.5 lakh (six and half thousand doses). So far, GoI has supplied 1,10,49,470 doses including 99,58,190 doses of Covishield & 10,91,280 doses of Covaxin,” Sudhakar said in a post on Twitter.
Karnataka has seen a shortage of vaccines in recent days that has impacted its vaccination drive, which is its biggest strategy to contain the Covid surge in the state.
Though Karnataka had opened vaccination to persons between 18-44 on May 1, it was more symbolic than operational due to the shortage of vaccines in the state.
According to government estimates, there are around 30.26 million persons in the state between 18-44 and to vaccinate all of them with both doses, it would require 60.52 million doses.
“In order to fulfill this requirement (the) state government has already placed orders for 20 million doses of Covishield and 10 million doses of Covaxin. Serum Institute which manufactures Covishield has already supplied six and half thousand doses of vaccine. More consignments will be delivered by May second or third week,” Sudhakar said on Sunday.
Vaccine shortages have been reported across India’s IT capital and other districts of the state with “no vaccine” boards dangling outside major hospitals in Bengaluru.
Karnataka has so far vaccinated 10,521,773 persons. However, only 20,46,015 out of this have received both doses, according to government data, which makes it less than 5% of the state’s population of around 60.5 million.
The daily vaccination numbers have also shown a sharp decline with the shortages as only 32,590 were vaccinated on on Sunday till 3.30pm, according to the daily bulletin of the state health department, which is just over 10% of the state’s own target to inoculate around 300,000 persons per day.
Bengaluru recorded 20,897 new infections in the 24 hours on Sunday that takes its active case count to 350,370. Meanwhile, the other districts of Karnataka continue to see a surge and the state recorded 47,930 new infections that takes the active caseload to 5,64,485, one of the highest in the country. Bengaluru accounted for 280 out of the 490 fatalities, according to the daily bulletin of the health department.
Private hospitals, barring Manipal and Apollo, have run out of stock ever since the Yediyurappa-led government asked them to procure vaccines on their own from May 1 and even took back stocks, according to multiple persons aware of the developments.
The state has so far inoculated only 10,627 persons between 18-44 years of age.
The shortage of vaccines has also added to the challenges of the BS Yediyurappa-led state government that is accused of neglecting warnings by a government appointed- technical advisory committee (TAC) in November about the imminent second wave of infections and required preparedness to tackle the same.
With the health infrastructure collapsing in Bengaluru and other parts of the state and country, government’s are banking on vaccination to reduce the chance of hospitalisation and severity for those infected by Covid-19.
“#LargestVaccineDrive . GoI has so far provided 17.56 Crore(175 million)+ #COVID19Vaccine doses to States & UTs for free. 72 Lakh (7.2 million) + doses are still available in stock with them. 46 Lakh(4.6 million)+ doses to be sent to States/UTs in the next 3 days,” Dr Harsh Vardhan, union minister for health & family welfare, science & tech, earth sciences, said in a post on Twitter.
