What failure, asks Karnataka CM Yediyurappa on vaccination drive delay

Yediyurappa told reporters that the delay was caused due to a lack of supply of vaccines

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday justified the delay in the start of the Covid-19 inoculation drive for citizens aged 18-44 years, basing it simply on the non-supply of vaccines.

Vaccination for the 18-44 age group is unlikely to start from May 1 as scheduled.

“There is no supply. We will start (the drive) as soon as we get it,” Yediyurappa told reporters.

He also said it was not a failure on the government’s part. “Very clearly the health minister has said that there’s no supply and that (vaccination) will start once there’s supply. Where’s the question of failure? We anticipated the supply of vaccines, but there’s been some delay,” he said.

Read | Karnataka Health Minister asks 18-44-year-olds not to crowd hospitals as vaccination drive begins May 1

Asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of May 1 as the start of phase 3 of the vaccination drive was a lie, Yediyurappa said: “Let’s not unnecessarily drag PM’s name. The Centre is trying out different things. Also, several countries across the world are providing help in different ways. I’m confident everything will be alright in a few days.”

Earlier in the day, Health Minister K Sudhakar urged all those between 18-44 years who had registered for Covid-19 vaccination to stay home and not throng hospitals on May 1 as the state's vaccine consignment was yet to be delivered by the Serum Institute.

Even Maharashtra and Delhi have declared that vaccination for the 18-44 age cohort will not start from May 1 as the states have yet to receive the vaccines.

Karnataka has decided to purchase one crore doses of Covishield to inoculate citizens aged 18-44 years. The state has an estimated 3.5 crore people in this age group.

The government has also decided that the Covid-19 vaccine will be provided free of cost at government hospitals for those aged 18-44 years.