Karnataka may receive ZyCoV-D vaccine by next week: Sudhakar

Health and Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said the ZyCoV-D vaccine for children aged 12 years and above is set to be distributed to states next week and vulnerable children will be given priority during vaccination.

He was speaking at a programme organised celebrate 125th year of operation of Minto Hospital on Tuesday.

He said the state’s Arogya Nandana scheme will be used to identify children with health complications.

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Asked about state-wise allocation, he said it was the Centre’s prerogative to allocate doses.

“We are expecting the vaccine doses by next week. Hospital-wise distribution depends on quantity we get. The Centre has already ordered one crore Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D Covid vaccine doses. We can’t demand for a certain number of doses. We will identify which children need to be prioritised. Those who are more prone to infection will be identified. Under the Arogya Nandana programme, we’re already getting the health profile of children and whether they have any deficiencies,” Sudhakar said.

TAC meeting

The minister had an extensive evening meeting with the State Covid-19 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and reviewed the Covid-19 situation across the state.

“We took stock of the prevailing infection rate in districts, ongoing efforts to prevent and mitigate a possible third wave and accelerate vaccination in areas having low coverage,” he tweeted.

Sudhakar told DH, “Today, I held an extensive meeting with TAC to understand the global pandemic situation, prevailing situation in other states and review the key parameters across all districts in our state.”

“This kind of brainstorming with experts helps us to draw lessons and best practices from across the globe and adopt those in our state. I am glad that the infection rate among children below 18 years age continues to be low at 0.13%. This is good news because we can continue to keep our schools open. The positivity rate also continues to be low across all the districts,” he said.

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