Karnataka Health Minister K. Sudhakar on Friday said that the state is expected to receive 13,90,000 vaccine vials against Covid-19 in a day or two, and it is likely to be administered starting from 11 January. “The big good news for Karnataka is that I have received information from the Union Health Ministry that tomorrow or day after probably we will be receiving 13,90,000 vials of vaccine for the state,” said Sudhakar.
Speaking to reporters after visiting a private hospital in Bengaluru, where vaccination dry run is being conducted, he said that the vaccination will be first administered to healthcare workers. “We have registered 6.30 lakh healthcare professionals in Karnataka till date. Those who are left out, maybe in some medical or dental colleges, we have requested them to register,” said Sudhakar and added that health workers will be followed by those with comorbidities, above 60 years, and in other departments like Police and Revenue working against the pandemic.
Later speaking in Chikkaballapura, he said that the vaccine vials will be distributed to all the districts and it will be administered from Monday itself probably.
Covid-19 vaccination dry run is on at 263 different health facilities across Karnataka. It is being held in 24 district hospitals, 20 medical colleges, 43 taluk hospitals, 31 community health centres, 87 primary health centres, 30 urban primary health centres, and 28 private facilities in the state.
The Minister, who visited some facilities where the dry run is going on, said arrangements and preparedness were quite good, and the process is being followed as per the issued guidelines.
The first round of the dry run, an exercise for end-to-end testing of Covid-19 vaccination process, was held in five districts of Karnataka: Bengaluru, Belagavi, Kalburgi, Mysore, and Shivamogga on 2 December as per the Government of India guidelines.