PremiumA free COVID vaccination drive for one lakh beneficiaries was kicked-off on Friday by Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee and during the drive, the first shot was taken by state unit chief DK Shivakumar at Davangere.
Shivakumar said, "Former Minister Shamanur Shivashankarappa has placed an order worth ₹4 crore to administer the vaccine to people of his constituency. This shows that the Congress party and its leaders are committed to vaccinate people of Karnataka and protect them from COVID"
He also said, "The party representatives will use money from their MPLAD (Member of Parliament Local Area Development) and MLA-LAD (MLA Local Area Development) funds for these ₹100 crore. But the government has not responded to our demand despite repeated requests."
"The party has already received around 10,000 injections all of whom will be administered to people of Davangere for free," the KPCC chief said
He informed that the second round of 50,000 injections of the Covishield vaccine is expected to arrive next week.
The Congress party has established a vaccination center at Durgamma Mariamma Temple Davangere where people irrespective of party affiliations will be administered vaccines. "I request everyone to take the vaccination as it is the most reliable way to defeat COVID," he said.
"BJP has not made enough vaccines available to Karnataka, choosing to export them instead for their own narrow PR Gains. The consequence of this is that the health and well-being of our people have been compromised, thereby increasing the mortality rate in our State due to COVID," Shivakumar said asserting that "the Congress will not leave any stone unturned to procure and vaccinate people of Karnataka".
As per the Union Health Ministry, Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have administered more than 10 lakh beneficiaries of the age group 18-44 years for the first dose of COVID vaccine.
The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country exceeded 22.75 crore today.
(With inputs from agencies)
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