'The response is slow for the third dose for various reasons, including vaccine fatigue and the wrong perception that the virus has gone,' said health minister K Sudhakar. About 5.2 crore people have to be administered the third dose.
Only about 1.6 lakh eligible people have taken the paid doses out of a target of 5.9 lakh. While the Centre sponsored the first and second doses, people have to pay Rs 225 plus 5% GST and Rs 150 service charge to take the third dose at private hospitals, barring those aged above 60 years. Delhi, Bihar and Haryana have announced a free third dose, following which various sections of society, including industry captains, are stepping up pressure on the Karnataka government to follow suit. The pressure is mounting on the state from many quarters to give the vaccine free, reports BV Shivashankar. BENGALURU: The Karnataka government is expected to take a call on whether to administer the third dose of the Covid vaccine free of charge after PM Narendra Modi's video conference with CMs to review the situation in the country on Wednesday.
