Karnataka to get 20,000 doses of Covaxin also

Bengaluru, Jan 13 (IANS) Karnataka would get 20,000 doses of Covaxin from Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech for administering to frontline warriors, including healthcare workers, in the first phase from January 16, state Health Minister K. Sudhakar said on Wednesday.

"The state will soon receive 20,000 doses of Covaxin from Hyderabad by air and these will be used to inoculate 16 lakh frontline warriors across the state in phase one from January 16 onwards," said Sudhakar, a medical doctor by profession, in a statement.

The state has received 8 lakh doses of Covishield from the Pune-based Serum Institute of India since Tuesday.

"Covaxin has 5ml vaccine in a vial as against 10ml vaccine in Covishield vial. We can vaccine 20 people with one vial on average," said Sudhakar.

The second consignment of 1.5 lakh doses of Covishield reached Belagavi from Pune by road in refrigerated vehicles.

The Serum Institute sent 6.5 lakh doses of its vaccine by air cargo to Bengaluru on Tuesday for distribution in 8 districts in the region.

"The doses are packed in 14,700 bottles, with each bottle having 10 units (ml). The vaccine will be administered twice with a 28-day gap between first and second dose," said a state health official.

The vaccines have been stored in cold chambers at 3 degree Celsius temperature.

"About 36,000 doses have been allotted for frontline warriors in Belagavi district."

The department has trained about 28,000 health workers to inject the vaccine at 180 centres in the state's northwest region spanning Bagalkote, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri, Koppal, Uttara Kannada and Vijayapura districts.

The vaccine will be administered at 235 sites across the state, and cold chains have been set up to store them in all the 30 districts. Task forces have been formed to supervise the exercise.

The state will get 13.90 lakh doses of vaccine in the first phase.

--IANS

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