Bengaluru The Karnataka Congress on Friday launched a scathing attack against the BS Yediyurappa government over the vaccination drive in the state.
“@BJP4Karnataka govt has increased the service charge from ₹100 to ₹200 to get vaccinated. Whose interests are the @BJP4Karnataka leaders trying to protect? People of Karnataka? Or The private hospitals?,” Siddaramaiah, former chief minister and leader of the opposition said in a post on Twitter.
The Congress has attacked the BJP-led government of giving rise to a situation in which private hospitals had enough stock for paid vaccinations but government and other public facilities were running dry.
“It is unfortunate that health minister @mla_sudhakar is promoting a private hospital instead of ensuring the availability of vaccines at govt hospitals. Is he a minister? Or a brand ambassador for private hospital?,” Siddaramaiah added.
The former chief minister also targeted Bengaluru South MP, Tejasvi Surya who continues to partner with private hospitals to administer paid-vaccinations.
“Karnataka’s vaccination drive is so slow that we haven’t even been able to vaccinate all health and frontline workers yet. What an absolute shame. Karnataka deserves better.
#LetCongressVaccinate,” DK Shivakumar, the president of the Congress in Karnataka tweeted.
Karnataka has so far administered a total of 13,016,720 doses of vaccine, according to the daily health bulletin of the state health department. Of this, 2,691,291 are second doses, according to government data.
{{/usCountry}}Karnataka has so far administered a total of 13,016,720 doses of vaccine, according to the daily health bulletin of the state health department. Of this, 2,691,291 are second doses, according to government data.
{{/usCountry}}The total vaccination coverage is under 5% of the estimated 60.5 million population in the state.
The poor vaccination coverage has left a significant number of people vulnerable to Covid-19. The health department on Friday said that the state recorded 22,823 new Covid-19 cases and 52,253 recoveries that brings down the total number of active cases to 372,373. The positivity rate dropped to 16.42%.
Bengaluru recorded 5,736 new infections that brought down its active caseload to 180697. However, the death toll continued to rise with at least 401 more losing their lives in a single day, including 192 in Bengaluru.