Bengaluru, (Samajweekly) Asserting that the two Covid vaccines were safe, Karnataka Health Minister K. Sudhakar on Sunday said there were no side effects among those who took the first shot since Saturday.
“No side effects have been reported so far from healthcare warriors who took the Covishield and Covaxin injections on Saturday and Sunday. They are safe,” he said in a statement.
Covishield, manufactured by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India is being used in 24 of the state’s 30 districts and Covaxin of the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in the remaining six.
“Of the 27,753 registered beneficiaries on the first 2 days of the vaccination drive across the state, 17,308 took the shot till Sunday, accounting for 62 per cent of the target” said Sudhakar, who is a medical doctor by profession.
According to the state Health Department, of the 6,327 registered healthcare workers on Sunday, 3,699 took the vaccine, accounting for 58 per cent of the target.
On Saturday, of the 21,426 registered warriors, 6,327 were injected, accounting for 63 per cent of the target.
Urging the people to have faith in the two vaccines, Sudhakar said Manipal Hospital chairman Sudharshan Ballal, who took the jab on Saturday was doing well with no side effect.
The Drug Controller General of India had on January 3 approved Covishield and Covaxin for emergency use by state-run and private hospitals across the country under the protocols of the Union Health Ministry.
“All the vaccinated warriors should follow the safety guidelines. They will develop resistance to the virus 10 days after the second dose, which will be administered 28 days after the first dose,” said Sudhakar.
Those who miss vaccination on a given date for any reason, can get the shot on any other day, he said.
In the state capital, vaccination was conducted in 6 private hospitals – St John’s, East Point Medical College, St Philomena, Baptist and Cox Town Maternity Home.
“Vaccination will resume in the state-run hospitals as well on Monday and continued till all the registered healthcare warriors are injected,” he added.
The state government has identified 7.43 lakh frontline warriors, including healthcare workers, civic staff, police and revenue personnel for vaccination, as the state received 8 lakh doses of both vaccines till date.
Admitting that glitches in the dedicated Co-Win portal were causing delays, the minister said the health staff could adopt a backup method to register recipients and upload their data later.
