K’taka To Start Vaccination At Workplaces From Apr 11: Health Min

Mumbai: Health Minister of Karnataka K Sudhakar said on Wednesday that public and private sector offices across the state could start vaccinating employees above 45 years of age from April 11 on their premises.

“Beneficiaries over the age of 45 can be vaccinated at all government and private workplaces across the state from April 11 to ramp up the drive and ensure more people develop immunity,” Sudhakar told reporters here.

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The decision to vaccinate eligible people at workplaces was taken at a virtual review meeting Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and Sudhakar had with deputy commissioners of Bidar, Chikkamagaluru, Chitradurga, Dakshina Kannada, Hassan, Kalaburagi, Mandya, Mysuru, Tumkur and Udupi districts across the southern state.

This comes after Union Health Ministry allowed states to permit vaccination at workplaces in private and public sectors, where a minimum of 100 employees are ready to take the vaccine.

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“As several IT firms urged us to allow vaccination in their premises, they can administer the dose to those ready for it,” said Sudhakar, a medical doctor by profession.

According to the state health bulletin, 88,499 people were vaccinated across the state during the day. These include 37,189 seniors and 46,333 in the age group of 45-59.

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“Cumulatively, 48,32,382 people received the dose since the vaccination drive was launched on January 16 across the southern state,” said the bulletin.

Admitting that the positivity rate was rising late and touched 6.02 per cent on Monday before dipping to 5.56 per cent on Tuesday, the minister said more tests would be conducted where positive cases were high or rising.

Of the 1,25,390 tests conducted during the day statewide, 8,433 were rapid antigen detection via RT-PCR and 1,16,957.

The case fatality rate was 0.50 per cent across the state on Tuesday.

“Though we have ramped up infrastructure over a year to treat Covid patients, we need to ensure more patients end up needing ICUs and ventilator, especially in Bengaluru where facilities are overwhelmed with more active cases and 5.56 per cent fatality rate,” added Sudhakar, a medical doctor by profession.

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