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TheBengaluruLive report of April 29 had anticipated delay before govt’s admission
BENGALURU:
The Karnataka government’s open admission that vaccination for the 18-44 age group may not begin on the scheduled date of May 1 has once again underlined the reporting strengths of TheBengaluruLive. On Friday, Karnataka’s Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar stated that the Covid-19 vaccination scheduled to start from May 1 for the 18-44 age group will be delayed as Karnataka is yet to receive the supply from the manufacturers.
A day earlier, on April 29, TheBengaluruLive had published a story titled “Karnataka may not start Covid-19 vaccination for 18-44 years group from May 1” https://thebengalurulive.com/karnataka-may-not-start-covid-19-vaccination-for-18-44-years-group-from-may-1/
On Friday morning, Sudhakar said that vaccination of people above 18 years of age, which was supposed to start from May 1, may be delayed as the vaccines have not yet arrived.
Sudhakar’s admission
The Minister was speaking to the media at his residence prior to his scheduled tour of Bidar and Kalaburagi districts. He said, “The Karnataka government has placed an order with the Serum Institute in Pune for over one crore doses, but the official news is that they are still not in a position to provide it to us from tomorrow as scheduled. As a result, the vaccination drive (for the 18-44 group) will be delayed.”
He asked all those belonging to this age group who had registered on the CoWin portal to refrain from going to vaccination centres on May 1.
‘Govt will inform beneficiaries’
The Minister said the government will intimate eligible persons in this group after confirmation from the Serum Institute of India about the arrival of vaccines. “We have already paid Rs 400 crore to purchase one crore doses of Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India in Pune,” Sudhakar said.
According to him, the Serum Institute has the capacity to produce 5-6 crore doses a month while the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech can produce 1-1.5 crore doses a month.
Question over Sputnik
Meanwhile, Russia’s Sputnik has given a licence to Hyderabad-headquartered Dr Reddy’s Laboratories to produce the vaccine, but the company has not informed the authorities when they will be able to supply the vaccine.
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