Start compulsory door-to-door vaccination of 18-plus population: Kumaraswamy to State Govt

Bengaluru: Former Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Thursday suggested to the Karnataka government to start compulsory door-to-door vaccination of the 18-plus population taking advantage of the state-wide curfew imposed to arrest the spread of COVID-19.

The JDS leader noted that the State has close to seven crore population of which persons in the age group 18-44 is about 37 per cent making it the largest chunk at 2.59 crore.

“At two jabs a person, we would need 5.19 crore vaccine doses,” he pointed out.

This is in addition to ongoing vaccine demand for 45-plus population which is 28 per cent of the states”s tally at 1.96 crore persons requiring 3.9 crore doses.

“Many in the 45-plus age group have not yet received even the first dose due to lack of vaccine supplies. And most from the 45-60 age group haven”t received the second dose.Does Government of Karnataka and Government of India have enough supplies to walk the talk?” Kumaraswamy asked.

“It”s a welcome decision to impose stringent restrictions during corona curfew but what steps is the government taking to ensure adequate vaccine supply?” he said.

As the state is under curfew, he suggested the government take full advantage of the situation and start door- to-door compulsory vaccination of all 18-plus population so as to instill confidence in the population as well as to arrest the spread of COVID.