The third phase of Covid-19 vaccination drive will begin in Odisha on Saturday with a few in the age bracket of 18-45 years receiving their first shot in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation area after the state received 1.5 lakh doses of indigenously developed Covaxin.
Additional chief secretary of health, PK Mohapatra, said on May1, a few token beneficiaries will receive the vaccine in a symbolic expansion of the drive amid a weekend lockdown in the state’s urban areas in view of the surging Covid cases.
“The vaccine will be used in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation limits for which slots will be opened on COWIN for sessions to be held from Monday,” he said.
Mohapatra said Odisha has placed orders with Bharat Biotech to deliver at least 5 lakh doses of Covaxin by May 31 and the rest 5.3 lakh doses by June 15. “We have also asked the Serum Institute to give us 40 lakh doses in May followed by 60 lakh each in June, July and August. We will start the Covishield vaccination as and when we receive the doses,” said Mohapatra. Odisha is administering Covishield jabs all across the state except Bhubaneswar.
Odisha health minister Naba Das wrote to Union health minister Dr Harsha Vardhan on Friday requesting the Centre to allot 25 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine in a single go to enable continuity in vaccination of people aged 45 years & above. On Friday, the state administered 81,161 doses to the age group of 45 years and above and was left with just 46,220 doses of Covishield and 3.21 lakh doses of Covaxin.
{{/usCountry}}Odisha health minister Naba Das wrote to Union health minister Dr Harsha Vardhan on Friday requesting the Centre to allot 25 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine in a single go to enable continuity in vaccination of people aged 45 years & above. On Friday, the state administered 81,161 doses to the age group of 45 years and above and was left with just 46,220 doses of Covishield and 3.21 lakh doses of Covaxin.
{{/usCountry}}“Between April 20 and 29, Odisha has received only 2.9 lakh doses of Covishield in three allocations, which is insufficient for unhindered continuation of the vaccination drive. The vaccination sessions could not be conducted in more than 1,100 session sites daily in the recent past and our daily dosage delivery has drastically declined from 2.71 lakh on April 3 to 27,000 on April 29,” Das wrote.