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Odisha official says people not turning up for 2nd Covid jab ‘despite reminders’
Dr Bijay Panigrahi, the nodal officer for Odisha's vaccination drive, said on Saturday that only 6.98 million beneficiaries have received both the doses, adding that 2.8 million more should have taken the second dose by now.
A day after Odisha administered the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine to more than 20 million beneficiaries, a top state official, who is associated with the inoculation drive, expressed concerns over beneficiaries not turning up to take their second dose, news agency PTI reported on Saturday.
Dr Bijay Panigrahi, the nodal officer for Odisha's vaccination drive, said on Saturday that only 6.98 million beneficiaries have received both the doses, adding that 2.8 million more should have taken the second dose by now. "The second dose administration has been slow in parts of the state, especially in tribal areas,” Dr Panigrahi said.
The health official also told the news agency that beneficiaries have failed to take the second jab on time and health officials have been instructed to encourage locals to complete their full vaccination course.
In total, authorities in the state have administered 2,70,77,818 doses till now and 51.4% of the 3.9 million vaccine-eligible population has been given the first dose.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday expressed happiness over 2,01,22,580 beneficiaries with the first dose and called it “another significant milestone in the fight against Covid-19.” However, experts in Odisha have said the inoculation drive at the current speed, will not be able to inoculate the entire eligible population by the end of this year, a target which was announced by the Centre for all states and Union Territories (UTs).
Odisha’s Covid-19 caseload currently stands at 1,019,621 with 8,128 deaths, 5,876 active cases and 1,005,564 recoveries. On Saturday, 695 people were detected Covid-19 positive while six patients succumbed and 719 recovered from the viral disease.
Meanwhile, India on Friday established a record in single-day vaccinations on the occasion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 71 birthday, with 21.5 million beneficiaries vaccinated in 24 hours. With this, the cumulative vaccination count has climbed to 794,287,699.
(With PTI inputs)
