Karnataka to get Covid vaccine stocks after four months

After four months without Covid vaccine stocks, Karnataka is set to get 5,000 doses of Corbevax, with the Health Department starting the procurement process.

This is a temporary measure, as the state is expecting to get another 20,000 doses from the Centre, Dr Naveen Bhat, Mission Director, National Health Mission,
said.

The Health Department has been getting requests for vaccines from various districts, including from parents who wanted to vaccinate children ahead of school reopening.

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This is the first time the state is directly procuring vaccines from the manufacturer. The decision was taken as the Centre declined to procure vaccines for the state in April. “We got permissions from the state Finance Department and the Election Commission (for exemption from the code of conduct) around the election time. The procurement committee then met recently and decided to place the orders,” Bhat said.

The Health Department will place the indent with the Karnataka State Medical Supplies Corporation Ltd, which will buy vaccines directly from the manufacturer Biological E.

The department had obtained permission from the Finance Department to procure two lakh doses, but the number has been kept low as doses are expected from the Centre again, Bhat said.

“We recently received a mail from the Centre asking what our requirement for Corbevax is. We submitted an indent for 20,000 doses, 10 days ago. These doses will expire in December. We have decided to procure stocks in phases by looking at the demand,” he said.

The Centre has not committed to a timeline for procuring the vaccines yet. “Covishield and Covaxin manufacturers have said they will take 3-4 months to produce new batches, so we will procure these later,” Bhat said.