BENGALURU: The Centre has agreed to provide more Covid vaccines to Karnataka after Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu spoke to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday.
“The CM requested me to speak to the Centre. I spoke to Mandaviya and he told me they will provide 25 per cent more than what the State is getting now,” Naidu said during an informal interaction with media persons at Raj Bhavan on Tuesday.
“For the time being, this is the arrangement,” he said, adding that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will discuss it with Mandaviya during his visit to Delhi on Wednesday and Thursday. Bommai met Naidu during the launch of ‘Vaccinate India Programme’, an initiative of the Department of Planning, Karnataka Government, in collaboration with the Give India Foundation and Sustainable Goals Coordination Centre, Bengaluru, at Raj Bhavan, earlier in the day.
Speaking at the event, Naidu asked people to get vaccinated and take precautions. Bommai expressed hopes of getting adequate quantities of vaccines as the State is planning five lakh vaccinations every day from September. Currently, they are administering 3.5-4 lakh doses a day, and want to increase it from next month, he said.
Bommai said the government is taking all measures like surveillance in border districts to contain Covid spread, building infrastructure like child paediatric centres, ICUs, and extra beds to treat Covid patients.
He called upon companies and philanthropists to come forward to help the government in vaccinating the poor through their CSR initiatives.