Two-thirds of Karnataka population covered with first dose of Covid vaccine

BENGALURU: Breaking multiple records along the way, Karnataka has covered twothirds of its target population with at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, while nearly a quarter of the more than 4.9 crore eligible people have been fully inoculated.

As of 6pm on Sunday, nearly 4.5 crore doses were administered in the state since the vaccination drive began. The government has covered more than 3.3 crore

(67.7% of the target) people with the first dose, while more than 1.1 crore have been fully inoculated.

Ramped up

Over the past four weeks — August 7 to September 3 — the state has seen a consistent increase in the number of doses administered. In the seven days from August 28 to September 3, Karnataka administered more than 43.4 lakh doses at the rate of about 6.2 lakh each day.

This is 15% more than the 37.7 lakh doses it administered during the week ending August 27, which was a 75.3% increase compared to the 21.5 lakh doses in the week before that.

On Saturday and Sunday (up to 6pm), 3.7 lakh doses at the rate of about 1.8 lakh a day were given. KV Trilok Chandra, health commissioner, had told TOI in the last week of August that the state hoped to get a supply of one crore doses each month from September from the Centre, and that the Karnataka government was hoping to inoculate the entire target population by the end of this year.

As has been the trend since the vaccination programme began in January, Bengaluru Urban has administered the most doses admong districts — 78.7% covered with one dose — while some districts in North Karnataka continue to lag.

As on date, more than 1.1 crore doses have been administered in Bengaluru Urban. While more than 82.7 lakh people have been covered with the first dose, more than 32 lakh have been fully inoculated. That is, around 31% of the more than one crore target population in the district have got both doses.

76% in Bengaluru get first dose

Of the target population in the district, more than 94.4 lakh people are in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits.

Around 76% of these have been covered with the first dose, while another 28.8 lakh (30% of the target) have been fully covered.

The area outside BBMP limits has seen more than 100% of the 10.6 lakh target population get the first jab and more than 3.4 lakh have got both doses.