Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa approved the purchase of 1 crore doses of the Covishield vaccine on Thursday, 22 April. The purchase of the one crore doses at a cost of Rs 400 has been approved in the first phase. This will be used to vaccinate everyone above the age of 18, as per the third phase of the Union government’s vaccine policy.
The amount has been sanctioned for Covishield, the vaccine by AstraZeneca produced by the Serum Institute of India. This comes a day after the company said that it would be pricing it for Rs 400 for state governments and Rs 600 for private hospitals.
The Karnataka government has not said whether it will provide the vaccine free of cost to the state’s residents, whether it will be subsidised or if it will be bearing the cost of the vaccine.