BENGALURU: It’s estimated that nearly 1.7 crore people in the state above 45 years of age will be eligible to get vaccinated from Thursday.
The health and family welfare department said 5,500 vaccination session centres across the state will be operational from Wednesday.
This includes all sub-centres, health and wellness centres, primary health centres, community health centres, taluk hospitals, district hospitals, medical colleges, and private hospitals registered for the vaccination drive.
The state currently has 13.5 lakh doses of Covishield and 1.5 lakh doses of Covaxin. Though online registration through Arogya Setu app or Co-Win portal is suggested, people can also walk in and ask for spot registration.
In Bengaluru, there are 525 vaccination centres with a capacity to administer 85,000 doses of the vaccine a day, said outgoing BBMP commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad.
“There is no shortage of vaccines. We have 1.5 lakh doses and will get an additional dose of 4 lakhs on Wednesday. The hospitals, which have more session sites, will be provided with required quantities,” he said.
He added that seven lakh doses have been used in Bengaluru so far. Vaccine wastage has reduced from 6% in previous months to 2% currently, Prasad claimed.
So far, the state has vaccinated 18.9 lakh senior citizens, 5.9 lakh persons in the 45-60 age group with comorbidities. Among healthcare workers, 5.6 lakh persons have got the first dose, and 3.4 lakh both first and second doses.
Of frontline workers, 2.3 lakh have got the first dose and 82,254 have got both doses.
Meanwhile, health minister K Sudhakar, at a review meeting of the pandemic situation in Dakshina Kannada district on Wednesday, instructed officials to ramp up vaccinations to control the spread of the virus.
He said from Thursday, 2,000 vaccination subcentres will be opened in the state taking the number of centres to 5,500. He went on to say, “If each centre administers a minimum 100 doses a day, we can touch 5 lakh a day.”