KEY STORY
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BENGALURU: Terming it a historic day, Health and Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Saturday said that he is happy with the 62 per cent turnout of beneficiaries who received the jab on the first day of the vaccine rollout.
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Of the 21,568 people who were to get the vaccine on Day 1, 13,408 turned up. No adverse reactions were reported for either Covishield or Covaxin, except for the pain at the site of injection, redness and swelling which went away without treatment after half-an-hour.
“We did not give the vaccine to people with comorbidities today, though they turned up. This is a positive number and the count is till 4 pm. Karnataka’s turnout will be more than the national average. The highest number of beneficiaries were in Kodagu district with 84 per cent, followed by Uttara Kannada with 80 per cent,” he said.
“Dakshina Kannada recorded 37 per cent. We don’t know why of the 600 listed, only 223 got the vaccine. I request people not to be anxious. BBMP limits saw a turnout of 65 per cent and Bengaluru Urban 53 per cent. The numbers were low at Mallasandra UPHC at 28 per cent,” he said.
CONCLUSION
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He was confident that more people will come forward from Sunday when more private hospitals will administer the vaccine.
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In a video-conference with Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Sudhakar said that 8 lakh doses for 7.43 lakh people in Phase-1 will suffice for only half the people (as there are two doses). He requested 8 lakh more doses, which Vardhan agreed to allocate.
“The drive was supposed to take place from 9 am to 5 pm, but due to PM Modi’s address, it started at 11.30 am and noon at some places. Dr Sudarshan, chairman of Covid Technical Advisory Committee, Dr Sudarshan Ballal, chairman of Manipal Hospitals and retired virologist from NIMHANS V Ravi, who are in the 60-65 age group, took the vaccine,” he said.
