Following directions from the Centre to prioritise beneficiaries who are due for the second dose, the State government will now set aside 70% of the available stock of Covishield to vaccinate those above 45 years, who are due for their second dose.
Announcing this, Health and Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar on Saturday tweeted, “70% of the available stock of Covishield will be utilised to vaccinate 45+ who are due for second dose and rest 30% will be used to vaccinate 45+ seeking first dose. Covaxin will be administered only to 45+ who are due for second dose after six weeks of first dose.”
Although this would imply that the drive for those in the age group of 18-45 years will slow down till the State gets adequate stock, vaccination for this age group continued in most centres on Saturday. As many as 1,656 beneficiaries in this group took the jab on Saturday in Karnataka.
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So far, the State has administered 1,04,81,705 doses till 8.30 p.m. on Saturday. This includes 10,338 in the 18-45 age group, 6,90,504 healthcare workers, and 4,59,346 frontline workers who have taken the first dose of vaccination.
As many as 4,46,472 healthcare workers and 1,76,984 frontline workers have taken the second dose as well. On Saturday, 1,11769 beneficiaries took the jab till 3.30 pm.