Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement on Monday that the Centre would procure vaccines and distribute them to States, Karnataka is expected to save about ₹2,000 crore that it otherwise would have to spend on purchase of vaccines.
Government sources told The Hindu that Karnataka had started purchasing vaccines for those in the 18-45 age bracket. The Centre was supplying vaccines for those above 45 years.
While Karnataka placed orders for 2 crore doses of Covishield and 1 crore of Covaxin, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa had in the third week of April announced setting aside ₹400 crore for purchase of one crore doses.
“Assuming that Karnataka had to purchase vaccines for people in the 18-45 years age bracket, the eligible population would be about 3.25 crore, which meant purchase of about 6.5 crore doses,” said a source.
Health Minister K. Sudhakar said that Karnataka was targeting vaccination of all those eligible by the end of this year. He said with the Centre procuring the vaccines, availability is likely to improve. He said Karnataka would require 10 crore doses of vaccines.
For film workers
The Minister was speaking after inaugurating a vaccination camp for persons employed in the film industry at the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. The government on Tuesday also issued an order to give ₹3,000 relief to film and television industry workers hit by the lockdown.
