Coronavirus vaccination campaign: what’s wrong?

Karnataka Minister BC Patil was vaccinated against Covid at his home in Haveri district

Bengaluru / New Delhi:

Karnataka Minister BC Patil took his coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday, joining a growing list of high profile politicians – including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Secretary Amit Shah – in receiving the premiere of their two doses as part of the second phase of the national campaign.

However, unlike Prime Minister Modi, Mr. Shah and other senior leaders, such as Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, Mr. Patil was shot. at his home in Haveri district.

The Prime Minister got his at AIIMS Delhi, Mr. Shah at Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon and Mr. Singh at Military Hospital (Research and Referral) in the National Capital.

Mr Patil said the decision to get vaccinated at home – rather than in public to allay fears that vaccines are unsafe and counter other reasons for hesitation – would actually help people.

“If I go to the hospital to get the vaccine, people will have to wait because of my visit. But here I can take care of people and also get the vaccine. What’s wrong?” he was quoted by the ANI news agency.

“Have I committed a theft or a robbery? I only took the vaccine at home, which is not a crime,” he added.

Mr. Patil, 64, and his wife were vaccinated at home.

The center, which issued strict guidelines for the vaccination process, responded.

“It’s not allowed in the protocol. We requested a report from the state government, ”quoted Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, quoted by ANI.

Karnataka’s Minister of Health, Dr K Sudhakar, was also unimpressed and was quoted by the PTI news agency as saying: “Unless prior authorization, no one is allowed to be vaccinated in domicile “, adding that a notice to this effect would be issued.

The Chief Minister, however, was in a more indulgent mood; According to PTI, when asked for his reaction, BS Yediyurappa told reporters that getting the shot is more important than location.

India started the second phase of the vaccination campaign at 9 a.m. on Monday, moving to inoculating around 27 crore of people over 60 (and over 45 but with comorbidities).

Registration can be done through the CoWIN web portal or the Aarogya Setu app, with people choosing which facility (government or private) to get the jab from.

The vaccines will be administered in 10,000 government centers (where they will be free) and 20,000 private centers (where prices will be capped at Rs 250 per dose).

Monday PM Modi became the first to be vaccinated in the second phase.

Seizing the moment to make his own posts, he received the Covaxin from Bharat Biotech, which the center has been criticized for allowing despite the lack of late-stage test data.

“Remarkable how our doctors and scientists have worked quickly to strengthen the global fight against COVID-19,” he tweeted, sharing a picture of himself taking the first dose.

I took my first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at AIIMS.

Remarkable how our doctors and scientists have worked quickly to strengthen the global fight against COVID-19.

I appeal to all those who have the right to be vaccinated. Together, let’s make India COVID-19 COVID-19 free! pic.twitter.com/5z5cvAoMrv

– Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 1, 2021

As of Tuesday morning, India reported more than 1.68 lakh of active Covid cases and more than 1.57 lakh deaths. The total number of cases detected since the start of the pandemic in December 2019 exceeds 1.11 crore.

There were 12,286 new cases and 12,464 recoveries in 24 hours, the center said Tuesday morning.

With the contribution of ANI, PTI