Deputy CM Dr Ashwath Narayan said the state has made good progress in the vaccination drive.
Karnataka is listed among the top five states in India when it comes to Covid 19 vaccination rates, but it still isn't always easy to get that all-important jab.
Bindu had been waiting for hours at K C General Hospital in Bengaluru. "We are waiting for so long. We are not easily getting vaccines. I have been here for two or three hours. They will be closing at 4 pm. Those towards the end of the queue, we don't know if they will get or not," she told NDTV.
Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Ashwath Narayan, says the vaccine doses available with the state are being used effectively.
"It requires many months to complete the process of getting all the citizens vaccinated. But in this process, the state of Karnataka, with the available vaccines, we have prioritised and given to frontline workers. Effective utilisation is happening to ensure that at any given time, we will be able to prepare the society to face Covid 19," he told NDTV.
He agreed that there is huge demand for the vaccines now. Some initial vaccine hesitancy in the state changed to eagerness after the devastating impact of the second wave of the pandemic.
The Deputy Chief Minister said, "There has been a lot of demand. Demand cannot be addressed in a day or two or a month. But effectively, the government of India has been providing us with a lot of vaccine doses. We have been vaccinating very aggressively across the state. The topmost priority has been given to the most vulnerable sections of the society. "
The state had set ambitious targets to get a significant percentage of the population inoculated amid apprehensions regarding a possible third wave of Covid infections. This included a target of almost a lakh jabs a day in capital Bengaluru. But the numbers don't seem to be always teaching the target.
Dr Ashwath Narayan, however, said the progress has been good. "Nothing like reducing (numbers)," he said. "You should see the monthly quota. Each month we have been vaccinating not less than 60 lakh people in our state. Last month, we vaccinated more than 60 lakh people. Even this month, our minimum target is 60 lakh people. Next month we are going to scale up depending on the production of the vaccines. We are also importing a lot of vaccines from different countries. Sputnik has been added. Moderna has been added. We have been scaling up production as well as the vaccination of people," the Deputy Chief Minister added.
The daily Covid case count in the state has dropped over the past few weeks, prompting the government to ease many restrictions. Karnataka yesterday reported 2290 new Covid cases and 68 deaths over the past 24 hours, as per the state bulletin. The number of active cases in the state stands at 37,906.