Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Friday urged the people of the state aged between 18-44 years to "refrain from going to hospitals" on Saturday, saying that the state has not received the required COVID-19 vaccine doses from Serum Institute of India (SII), Pune.
The third phase of the vaccination drive which is scheduled to start on Saturday includes people within the age group of 18-44 years.
Speaking to ANI, the health minister said, "We gave orders to Serum Institute, Pune for providing over 1 crore doses. But the official news is that they are still not prepared to give it to us from tomorrow, as it was scheduled. That is why we are requesting people of Karnataka, especially those above 18 years up to 44 years to refrain from going to hospitals thinking that you may be vaccinated tomorrow."
Reassuring that the state will inform about the vaccination drive further, he said, "We will definitely intimate people after the confirmation that we obtain from the Serum Institute."
Sudhakar also urged the Centre to help Karnataka in times of pandemic as the COVID-19 cases in the state are "really high".
"I only request people to wait and register on the CoWIN portal. We are trying our best to receive the vaccines from the companies. I also request the government of India to intervene and also support us because the cases in Karnataka are really high in terms of active cases and positive cases as well."
As per the official data released by the union health ministry, Karnataka has 3,49,515 active COVID-19 cases. The state has recorded 15,306 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic last year. In the last 24 hours, Karnataka reported 20,612 new COVID-19 cases and 270 related deaths.
( With inputs from ANI )
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