BENGALURU: Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday said the state government has written to the Centre, urging it to immediately approve booster Covid-19 vaccine doses for healthcare workers in Karnataka.
Following the cluster outbreak at SDM College of Medical Sciences in Dharwad, the government is keen on providing booster doses to healthcare workers on priority. The state has urged the Centre to draft a uniform national policy on the issue.
“We have asked the Centre to approve the shots, especially in light of the new strain of the virus and continued fresh cases emerging in the state,” said Bommai.
The CM said if the Centre approves the proposal and unveils a national policy, the government will immediately administer the doses. There are as many as nine lakh healthcare workers from Karnataka who are registered on the CoWin portal.
Bommai also said the state has urged the Centre to ban all flights from “high risk countries” of Botswana, South Africa and Hong Kong, to curb the spread of the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus. He also indicated that the government would make it mandatory for all private and government employees to mandatorily take the vaccine. The Centre has so far insisted that the vaccine is not mandatory, although it has urged people to take the shots.
“It will be mandatory for everyone who enter malls, private companies or government offices, to have taken two doses,” Bommai said.
