Armed with a stock of nearly 40 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine, Karnataka is all set to administer over 30 lakh doses during a mega vaccination drive to be held on Friday.
Arundathi Chandrashekar, State Mission Director, National Health Mission, told The Hindu on Thursday that the State has dispatched 34 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccines to reach all government COVID vaccination centres in the districts. This includes five lakh doses for the BBMP and over 70,000 doses to Bengaluru Urban, she said.
“Apart from this, the central vaccine stores in Bengaluru has a buffer of nearly seven lakh doses. Districts have been given targets based on population to be vaccinated and second dose due, focussing on priority groups,” she said.
Districts have roped in medical colleges, nursing schools, private hospitals, and other departments. As many as 14,666 sessions have been planned in around 12,700 government and 300 private vaccination centres for the mega drive.
The Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA) has volunteered to waive service charges in member hospitals. “We have sent a requirement of 20,000 doses to the BBMP and these doses will be administered free of cost to beneficiaries in our hospitals. Besides, we have also offered to provide manpower - vaccinators and data entry operators - if required,” PHANA president H.M. Prasanna said.
In Bengaluru
The BBMP will be administering four lakh doses of Covishield and one lakh doses of Covaxin in 2,178 vaccination sites across the city, said Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta.
Already, a mega vaccination site has been functioning over the past few days at Yelahanka, and a second will be opened at the kabbaddi grounds in Malleswaram.
To ensure that the target of administering five lakh doses is met, BBMP will be holding outreach vaccination camps across 760 slums.
Of the 385 persons hospitalised with COVID-19, 32 are in ICUs. Of these, 25 have not been vaccinated and the remaining seven have received their first dose. “The instance of hospitalisation among those who are fully vaccinated is less. So far, 80% of the eligible population in the city have already got the first dose. As per our estimate, we will be able to cover the remaining 18-19 lakh by October,” Mr. Gupta said.
BBMP’s Special Commissioner (Health) D. Randeep said that 2,000 vaccinators and 2,000 verifiers have been roped in for the mega vaccination programme.
