Vaccination for those aged 18-45 years in Karnataka will not start on May 1

COVID-19 vaccination for the age group of 18-45 will not begin from May 1 in Bengaluru and rest of Karnataka as earlier announced, Health Minister Dr Sudhakar confirmed on April 30. He asked those aged between 18 to 45to register on the Co-Win portal and wait for the government to inform them once new stocks arrive. 

This comes in wake of massive vaccine shortages reported in the state and the Karnataka government said that the vaccination drive for the 18-45 age group will take place only in a phased manner. “So far the Government of India has supplied 99.40 lakh doses of vaccine to the state and 93.50 lakh doses have been administered. Around 5.9 lakh doses are available,” Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said in a statement on April 29 evening.

“The state government is procuring 1 crore doses of vaccine. Work order has been placed to procure one crore additional doses of vaccine. The fourth phase of vaccination drive will be taken up in stages,” he added.

Vaccine shortage: Karnataka Health Min asks people of 18-45 age category not to visit vaccine centres from May 1. Says govt will inform once new stocks arrive pic.twitter.com/YDZS2Qs5cU

— Soumya Chatterjee (@Csoumya21) April 30, 2021

Read: Bengaluru faces COVID-19 vaccine shortage ahead of May 1 roll out for 18+

He said under these circumstances, vaccination drives will continue based on availability of vaccines. The drive will be planned to ensure systematic, disciplined and smooth implementation, the CM’s statement added. This statement comes as Karnataka is under a two-week lockdown as the state is struggling to cope up with the increase in caseload and people are dying in want of oxygen, ICU and ventilator beds.

On April 29, Karnataka recorded 35,024 fresh cases with 270 deaths in a day across the state. With 35,024 new cases registered on the day, the state's positive tally and fatalities reached to 14.74 lakh and 15,306 respectively. 

TNM had reported how there is a shortage of COVID-19 vaccines since the last few days in Bengaluru which had forced many who are due for their second shot to wait until stocks arrive. As reported on April 28, between April 1-27, the state has given 51.93 lakh shots, an average of 1.92 lakh shots every day. But the average number of doses administered over the last seven days has been 95,266.