Karnataka to begin vaccination for 18-44 age group from May 10

The Karnataka government Sunday announced that Covid-19 vaccination will be provided to citizens aged 18-44 across the state on Monday (May 10).

According to Health and Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar, vaccines will be provided at district hospitals, government medical colleges and taluk-level hospitals across the state to begin with.

“In Bengaluru, vaccines will be provided for citizens aged between 18 to 44 years at KC General Hospital, Jayanagar General Hospital, Sir C.V.Raman General Hospital, Government Medical Colleges, ESI Hospitals and NIMHANS,” he mentioned.

However, the government has stressed that registration on the CoWin portal is mandatory and that walk-ins will not be allowed. “All such vaccination centres will have an exclusive session site earmarked for people aged 18 to 44. Vaccination will be provided to only those who have registered and scheduled an appointment on CoWin portal and walk-ins will not be allowed,” Sudhakar explained.

According to officials of the health department, the number of vaccination centres will be increased gradually “as and when more vaccines will become available.”

Further, Sudhakar added that the state had received 3.5 lakh doses out of the total 2 crore doses of Covishield, for which the state government had placed the order directly with its manufacturer Serum Institute of India. “With this, the total delivery has risen to 6.5 lakh doses,” he said. He added, “The Centre has supplied 1,10,49,470 doses including 99,58,190 doses of Covishield and 10,91,280 doses of Covaxin so far.”

The Minister also urged young people to wait for their turns assuring them that the government will get vaccines for all. “The government is leaving no stone unturned to vaccinate each and every citizen at earliest and is making continuous efforts to secure supply of vaccines,” he added.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had launched the drive for the age group 18 to 44 in Bengaluru “symbolically” on May 1 in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical College and Research Institute in Shivajinagar in Bengaluru.

Yediyurappa then said that the Centre had given three lakh doses to the state government with the state having a stock of one lakh doses. “Totally, there are four lakh doses that will be given to those aged above 18. We will give the vaccines till they last. We hope to get more vaccines in the days to come,” he had said.

However, the health bulletin issued by the Department of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday (May 8) indicated that a total of only 10,000 people aged 18 to 44 were inoculated since May 1 in the state. While 1318 beneficiaries were inoculated on Saturday, the same on Friday and Thursday (all till 3.30 pm) were 717 and 363 respectively.

It is estimated that 3.26 crore people in Karnataka fall in the age group 18-44 thereby raising the requirement of 6.52 crore doses to fully vaccinate the population. “In order to fulfil this requirement, the state government has already placed an order for 2 crore doses of Covishield and 1 crore doses of Covaxin. More consignments are expected to be delivered by the second or third week of May,” Sudhakar added.