Covid vaccination drive for 12-14 age group off to sluggish start in Karnataka

The vaccination drive for kids aged between 12 and 14 years in the state got off to a sluggish start on Wednesday with only 773 children in the age-group getting jabbed across the state, till 3.30 pm, according to the Health department bulletin.

Interestingly, the state has a stock of 20 lakh doses of vaccine. Health Secretary T K Anil Kumar told DH, Wednesday was merely a token launch and that it would take two to three days for the numbers to pick up.

"It is just a token kick-off. We are not in a battle to finish the vaccination in two days. We will take the drive to schools in two to three days. We don't have numbers yet but it is a very small number. We don't have daily targets yet. This has not been fixed. We have stocked up 20 lakh doses and the process has merely been initiated," Anil Kumar said.

Also Read | Over 2.6 lakh doses of Corbevax Covid vaccine administered to 12-14 year-olds on first day

Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar launched the Corbevax vaccine drive for the kids at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical College in Bengaluru on Wednesday morning with 13-year-old Abhilash becoming the first recipient in the state.

As per figures shared by Health Commissioner D Randeep, the state has set itself a target of vaccinating 24,52,655 children in the 12-14 age-group. Five districts with the highest targets are BBMP (3,40,999), Belagavi (1,95,314), Kalaburagi (1,26,577), Ballari (1,25,874) and Mysuru (1,12,528).

On Day 1, till 3.30 pm, the highest number of doses were administered in Ballari (74) followed by Mysuru (63), Koppal (53), Mandya (42), and Shimoga (40). BBMP, Gadag, Haveri and Kolar, had not compiled the data yet, said Randeep.

Lion's Home, where 25 disadvantaged girls are housed, had five of its girls vaccinated with Corbevax on Wednesday at Atal Bihari Vajpayee College.

Mary Chinnappa, the house mother of Lion's Home, said, "Our home houses children of single parents or orphans. They are students of Shishu Mandira school. I checked with the girls at lunch, they were doing fine and had no fever. They only had mild pain at the injection site."

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