Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government will launch third phase of COVID-19 vaccination drive for the people above 18 years of age from May 1.
Speaking to media persons on Thursday, Director, Health and Family Welfare, Dr Bijay Panigrahy said since 42% of population of the state belongs to the age group of 18-45 years, the government has decided to launch the drive. The government will release an SOP in this regard soon, he added.
Giving the details on the vaccination programme, Dr Panigrahy said 10,2,407 people have been vaccinated. The programme is going on in 750 centres on Thursday.
He further said the state has a stock of 2.6 lakh vials of Covishield and 1.9 lakh Covaxin vaccines at present. There is no information about further supply from the Centre, he added.
However, private hospitals can get the vaccines from the manufacturing companies directly from May 1, Dr Panigrahy said adding that Serum Institute of India, the producer of Covishield, has already made announcement in this regard.
