Odisha health department targets to administer 300,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines daily beginning Monday with the aim to cover 30.9 million eligible residents in the shortest possible time, officials said
All district collectors and municipal bodies have been instructed by the state health department’s additional chief secretary, PK Mohapatra, to plan at least 5 vaccination sessions in each block and notified area councils (NAC), 10 sessions in each municipality and at least 20 sessions in five specified municipal corporations so that the target of 300,000 doses can be achieved daily.
“The vaccination drive for those in 18-44 years and above 45 years should be run in a campaign mode so as to completely consume the available stock within the shortest possible time,” Mohapatra said.
Presently, less than 150,000 doses are administered daily on an average across the state, directly impacting the number of doses supplied by the Centre, based on its consumption and wastage rate, he added.
“Districts can plan for both online and on-site sessions based on feasibility. At the same time, the beneficiaries already due for their 2nd dose shall be mobilised to ensure timely vaccination,” said Mohapatra in his letter.
{{/usCountry}}“Districts can plan for both online and on-site sessions based on feasibility. At the same time, the beneficiaries already due for their 2nd dose shall be mobilised to ensure timely vaccination,” said Mohapatra in his letter.
{{/usCountry}}Since the beginning of Covid vaccination drive on January 16, Odisha has administered 9.677 million doses including 3.706 million double doses given to 1.853 million residents.
Odisha has 30.9 million eligible residents, requiring 61.8 million doses for complete vaccination. However, the state has only managed to fully vaccinate nearly 0.05% of the eligible population so far. As per the available data, over 4.266 million men and 3.01m women have received at least one out of the two jabs.
Though the vaccination drive picked up pace in June, officials said doubling the average daily vaccinations to 300,000 will be a challenging task.
“The last time we undertook such a major vaccination drive was in 2018, when over 11.2m children in the age group of 9 months and 15 years were jabbed with Measles Rubella vaccine. We have also done oral polio vaccination in huge numbers. But never have we done vaccination at such a massive scale for a prolonged period. The Covid vaccination campaign is going to test the skills and tenacity of the health workers across the state like no other in the recent past,” said Dr Bijay Panigrahi, nodal officer of Covid vaccination in Odisha.
The enormity of the challenge is underscored by the fact that 197,000 healthcare and frontline workers in the state are yet to get themselves vaccinated despite registering on the CoWIN application, prompting the government to set June 20 deadline for them.
Meanwhile, Odisha on Sunday reported 3,577 new Covid cases in the previous 24 hours with 42 deaths pushing the state’s Covid death toll to 3,590. The state has 38,727 active cases, the sixth highest in the country after Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
The test positivity rate, an indicator of spread of infection, in the week ending June 20 was high in 5 districts with Bhadrak topping the list with 17% followed by Jajpur at 15.7% and Khurda at 15.5%. It was also on the rise in western Odisha’s Nuapada district (11.45), after declining for some time.