Karnataka gets eight lakh doses of Covishield; mega vaccination mela today

The mela will be held in all government vaccination centres and all those eligible for precaution dose can get it free of cost

With the arrival of eight lakh Covishield doses, the State Health department is organising a mega vaccination mela in all districts on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. People can get vaccinated free of cost in all government vaccination centres.

Following the global surge, experts had recommended that it is vital for the vulnerable population, especially the elderly, those with comorbidities and immunocompromised persons, to take the precaution dose. The overall coverage of precaution dose is abysmally poor in Karnataka with not more than 21% of the eligible population getting the third dose.

While Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had in December directed officials to organise vaccination camps to increase booster dose coverage to at least 50% by January end, the Health Department was unable to do so due to the lack of Covishield stocks, demand for which has been high. With almost zero stocks of this vaccine, the State was awaiting the eight lakh consignment to start camps.

Naveen Bhat, State Mission Director, National Health Mission (NHM), told The Hindu on Friday that the consignment arrived two days ago and the stock has been distributed to the districts. 

“The mega vaccination mela will be held in all government vaccination centres and all those eligible to take precaution dose can get it free of cost. Currently, we have eight lakh doses of Covishield and four lakh doses of Covaxin,” Dr. Bhat said. Gram panchayat members will be roped in to mobilise the eligible beneficiaries to the nearest facility.

Mr. Bhat said the eight lakh doses have been distributed to all districts, who in turn will fix their own targets depending on the demand. “As of now, the vaccination mela has been planned only for January 21 and depending on the feedback the next mela will be fixed,” he said.

Of the eight lakh Covishield doses, BBMP has been given 94,500 doses. K.V. Trilok Chandra, BBMP Special Commissioner (Health), said the drive will be held in all BBMP vaccination centres. “We have also planned outreach programmes involving Resident Welfare Associations. This is to mobilise the beneficiaries to the vaccination centres,” he said.