62% of designated beneficiaries vaccinated on day one in Karnataka

Up to 62% of healthcare workers who were scheduled to receive Covid vaccines on Saturday got vaccinated till 4 pm in the state. In absolute numbers, 13,408 health workers out of a total of 21,658 registered on the Co-WIN platform got vaccinated.

Health and Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said, “There may have been redness, swelling, pain in the arm for a few but within half an hour, it subsided without any medical intervention. There were no major adverse events reported in any health worker.”

Kodagu district vaccinated the highest percentage of health workers with an impressive 84% followed by Uttara Kannada with 80%. However, in Dakshina Kannada, a mere 222 were vaccinated till 4 pm, the lowest in the state. “Only 222 of the 600 health workers on the list of beneficiaries were vaccinated. The state’s population is educated. I request them to volunteer for the vaccination,” said Sudhakar.

In Bengaluru, while 53% health workers in Bengaluru Urban got vaccinated till 4 pm, BBMP managed to vaccinate 65%. “Mallasandra primary health centre (PHC) had the lowest vaccination rate,” Sudhakar said.

Figures put out by the BBMP later in the day said the PHC had managed to vaccinate 28 out of 50 beneficiaries. “A doctor in KR Puram Hospital who had recovered from Covid took the injection today. He had also taken convalescent plasma during his treatment. It is a sign of hope to see such doctors get vaccinated,” Sudhakar said.

Karnataka received eight lakh doses of vaccine and 7.43 lakh people have been identified for the first phase of vaccination. “We have requested the Union government to provide an additional eight lakh doses of vaccines,” Sudhakar said.

Vaccination was delayed at several sites in Mysuru, Mandya, and Chamarajanagar with the Co-WIN app taking time to load data of beneficiaries. Many centres even temporarily halted the procedure. There were technical glitches in Dharwad too. KIMS management was unable to connect to the server and many beneficiaries did not receive an acknowledgement SMS on time.

On Sunday, private hospitals will start vaccination while there will be no vaccination in government health facilities, said the minister. On Saturday, St John’s Hospital and East Point Medical College had vaccinated 81 and 40 health workers respectively.

On Sunday, large corporate hospital chains like Manipal Hospital will vaccinate 4,052 health workers in 43 vaccination stations. Other private hospitals vaccinating their staff include St Philomena’s Hospital and Nursing College with seven sites vaccinating 700 beneficiaries, Baptist Hospital, Hebbal with 14 sites and 1,376 beneficiaries and Cox Town Maternity Home vaccinating 98 beneficiaries at one site.