COVID Vaccination Drive To Hit Shortage Wall In Odisha: Health Dept

Bhubaneswar: The COVID-19 vaccination in Odisha will be hampered if fresh stock of vaccines is not available in two days, the Health and Family Welfare Department said on Thursday.

Director of Health and Family Welfare, Bijay Panigrahi said a target was set for the vaccination of two lakh people on Wednesday. But due to the shortage of vaccines, only 1.10 lakh could be vaccinated.

Around 700 vaccination centres were closed down on Wednesday.

“At present, the state has 4,35,320 doses of Covishield vaccines which will be exhausted in two days. Besides, the present stock of 1,154,490 doses of Covaxin will be exhausted in 10 days. Due to the shortage of vaccines, 700 session sites were closed on Wednesday while all session sites in Koraput district have been closed,” Panigrahi added.

Also Read: Vaccine Crunch: COVID Jabs Stalled In Odisha’s Koraput

He stated that Odisha requires 25 lakh doses of vaccines for the next 10 days. Even though the state government has reminded the Centre to make provisions to send 15 lakh doses of vaccines, there has been no response till date, he added.

Referring to the Health and Family Welfare Ministry’s directive on workplace vaccination, Panigrahi said the state government will launch the drive from April 11.