Two crore will be vaccinated in phase II, says minister Sudhakar

Bengaluru: Health Minister Dr K.Sudhakar on Friday said 1,38,656 people had been administered Covid-19 vaccine in the State. Though side effects were seen in some, there was no causality, the minister added.

Speaking to media persons, Sudhakar said Covishield had been administered to 1,36,882 and Covaxin to 1,774 people in the State. Only 2-3.5% of the vaccine recipients developed some sort of side effect. Of 8,47,908 lakh registered for vaccination in the first phase 3,27,201 were government health warriors and 4,45,389 private health warriors. "Today we will be receiving another 1,46,240 doses of Covaxin. Some people have hesitations to take vaccines due to rumours, vaccine will keep the disease away. We have a big challenge of vaccinating 1.5 to 2 crore people in the State in the second phase," the minister elaborated.

Clarifying on the reported displeasure among a section of ministers over the cabinet rejig, Dr Sudhakar maintainted that the matter would be discussed with the CM. "Earlier it was difficult to manage the pandemic as Health and Medical Education departments were handled by different ministers. Covid was controlled well after merging both Health & Medical Education departments. We have to provide vaccination to more people with the coordination of both the departments. Administrative issues should not be a hurdle in this world's largest vaccination drive. Therefore, I will request the CM to allocate both the departments to a single person," claimed Sudhakar.

"We are honestly working to strengthen the hands of the CM. It was a politically suicidal attempt to resign from a party and join BJP. I won the Chikkaballapur seat increasing the vote share of the party from 3% to a victory margin of 35,000 votes. Similarly, M.T.B. Nagaraj was a minister who resigned having faith in me. It's my duty to protect all my colleagues," said Dr.Sudhakar. It's the prerogative of the CM to allocate portfolios. "Being a member of the cabinet, I am working to bring a good name to the government and the party." Justifying his statement, Dr Sudhakar said that portfolio should have been allocated by considering the experts opinion and the ongoing vaccination drive. "I will convey the same to the CM, Sudhakar further added.