Two Karnataka hospitals picked for vaccination launch event

BENGALURU: The Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) and the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), Hubballi, are among select facilities in the country where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch Covid-19 vaccination during a live webcast on January 16. Overall, the vaccination drive will begin simultaneously at 5,000 sites in the country.
“Of these, 235 sites are in Karnataka, which will receive 13.9 lakh vaccine doses shortly. We have more than 29,000 storage units, where vaccines can be kept safely,” health minister K Sudhakar said on Saturday.
Healthcare workers who will receive vaccine shots at BMCRI and KIMS will later interact with a central team during the webcast.
Government teams are pressing ahead with preparations for the nationwide launch. On January 11, Modi will interact with the chief ministers of all states in a videoconference.
Karnataka is likely to get the consignment of Covid-19 vaccines from the Serum Institute of India, Pune, according to a senior official in the health and family welfare department. Ten walk-in coolers, four walk-in freezers, 3,201 ice-lined refrigerators, 3,312 cold boxes, 46,591 vaccine carriers and more than 2.2 lakh ice packs have been readied for storage and transportation of vaccines in the state.
There are some concerns about the arrangements at BMCRI as a dry run at the government-run facility on Friday didn’t go off smoothly. The Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network, or CoWIN, faced some glitches. The software is specially designed to monitor vaccine delivery, register names of recipients and provide a vaccination certificate.
Time to deliver
“There is pressure as vaccine recipients will be part of a live interaction with the Union government. We are thinking about choosing another hospital or a medical centre for the launch. A decision will be taken soon,” said another senior official of the health department.
Polio drive deferred
Meanwhile, with Covid-19 vaccination beginning from January 16, government officials have decided to postpone the pulse polio immunisation programme that was scheduled to begin across the country on January 17. An order was issued on Saturday.
In Karnataka, the target was to cover 65 lakh children aged below five. The state received stocks of polio vaccine last month and they have already been distributed among districts. “The government may have taken the call to postpone the programme to avoid a resource drain or a clash with Covid-19 vaccination,” said an official.