Odisha will get 1.5L doses of Covaxin for 18+ group

By Express News Service
BHUBANESWAR: THE Odisha Government on Friday acquired 1.5 lakh doses of Covaxin vaccine from Bharat Biotech as the primary consignment of the State’s personal procurement totally free vaccination of 18 to 44 years age group.Additional Chief Secretary of Health PK Mohapatra stated the vaccine will probably be administered to age-appropriate folks in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation limits for which slots will probably be opened on CoWIN portal for classes to be held from Monday onwards.

“However, the State will have a trial symbolic commencement of the free vaccination of 18-44 years age group with inoculation of a few beneficiaries on Saturday. There will be no full fledged vaccination in the weekend in view of the lockdown in the urban areas of the State,” he knowledgeable. As many as 81,161 folks have been administered vaccines via 451 session websites on Friday. Meanwhile, the federal government on Friday demanded that Centre ought to instantly provide no less than 25 lakh doses of Covishield to proceed with the classes recurrently.

“I am to reiterate my request to urgently supply at least 25 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine in a single lot to enable us to ensure second dose vaccination of people aged 45 years and above and to conduct sessions regularly across the State,” Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das wrote to Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan on Friday.

Stating that Odisha is dealing with a crsis resulting from very low and erratic provide of Covishield vaccine, the Minister stated that until date the State has acquired 53,32,870 doses and the inventory out there now’s only one.05 lakh. The Minister stated that between April 20 and 29, Odisha acquired solely 2.9 lakh doses of Covishield in three allocations which was insufficient.