The Karnataka government on Friday told citizens to not step out for the third phase of Covid-19 vaccination, which officially begins on Saturday across the country, as the stock of vaccine they ordered from the Serum Institute of India (SII) is not in yet, news agency ANI reported.
Follow latest updates on Covid-19 here
“We gave orders to SII, Pune for over one crore doses. But they are not prepared to give it to us from tomorrow. We request people, especially those between 18-44 years of age, to refrain from going to hospitals thinking that they may be vaccinated tomorrow,” Karnataka’s health minister Dr K Sudhakar told news agency ANI.
“We have already paid ₹400 crore to purchase one crore doses of Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India in Pune,” he was quoted as by PTI. Sudhakar added that the people will be informed when the government gets confirmation about the arrival of vials from SII.
The announcement comes a day after Karnataka clocked 35,024 new cases of the coronavirus disease on Thursday and 270 fatalities, taking its active caseload to 349,496 and death toll to 15,306.
Several states, including Maharashtra, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, have said that they will start the third phase of the immunisation drive at a later date in May when manufacturers provide them with a substantial number of vials to administer to the people aged between 18 years and 44 years.
The registration process for the vaccination of people from this category has begun on the CoWin portal. However, the pharmaceutical companies to which the state governments have given orders for the vaccine doses are yet to deliver them.
Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani has said that the Phase 3 immunisation campaign will start latest by May 15 while Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the jabs are likely to arrive in the city by Saturday or Sunday, following with the drive will begin with an aim to conclude it in three months.
