Karnataka tops the vaccination drive

Bengaluru: Karnataka topped the COVID vaccination drive in the country on Friday by administering 26.92 lakh doses till 9 PM, Minister for Health & Family Welfare and Medical Education K Sudhakar said.

The State stood first in the country ahead of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, which achieved over 26.62 lakh doses and 24.86 lakh doses respectively, his office said in a release.

According to data released by the state health department at 8:30 pm, Karnataka had achieved 85 per cent coverage by administering 26,92,955 doses, against the target of 31,75,000.

“I would like to thank all the health workers and other staff who have been involved in this historic vaccination drive,” Sudhakar said.

It is a phenomenal effort by Karnataka to administer more doses today than Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which have several times more population, he said, adding that “It is really apt that this effort coincides with the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has led the war on Covid from the front.”

Meanwhile, the state on Friday also crossed the “milestone” of administering over five crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine till date.

According to the release, the districts that topped in Karnataka during the drive are Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike- BBMP area (3.98 lakh doses), Belagavi (2.39 lakh doses), Dakshina Kannada (1.33 lakh doses), Ballari (1.33 lakh doses), Tumkuru (1.24 lakh doses) and Mandya (1.15 lakh doses).

Bengaluru Urban, Shivamogga, Dharwad, Ramanagara, Hassana, Davanagere, Chikamagaluru and Haveri districts achieved more than 100 per cent of the day’s target.

The vaccination drive, also called “Mega Vaccination Mela” was conducted in over 12,000 Covid vaccination centres across the State.

With today’s performance, total doses administered in the State in September have gone up to 87 lakh.

Karnataka administered a total of 5.12 crore doses till 9 PM on September 17.

“We are very confident of crossing the target of 1.5 crore that we have set ourselves for September,” the minister said, also expressing confidence about vaccinating the entire adult population in the State by the end of November.

India today administered a “whopping” 2.25 crore doses today till 9 PM. The total doses administered in India till September 17 has crossed 79 crore.