Odisha Discriminated In COVID Vaccine Supply! Govt Shoots Off Another Letter

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has sought supply of at least 15 days vaccine requirement in advance for uninterrupted inoculation drive in the state.

Urging the Centre not to discriminate between states in the allocation of doses, Additional Chief Secretary P K Mohapatra on Friday wrote that Odisha is struggling to muster one lakh doses due to vaccine shortage while some states have been achieving three lakh vaccination a day.

“We are unable to plan vaccination sessions for even 15 days in advance due to insufficient and erratic vaccine supply to our state. It is seen that other states are achieving up to 3 lakh vaccination daily due to adequate vaccine supply. It is requested that there should not be any discrimination between states in the supply of vaccines,” he wrote.

This is the third letter from the state to the Union Health Ministry over vaccine shortage. The state had earlier expressed apprehensions of having to pause the drive for four days from March 31 to April 3.

Odisha has already administered more than 20 lakh doses of vaccine to healthcare workers, frontline workers and the age-appropriate group of citizens. With citizens aged 45 years and above to be vaccinated from April 1, the state has estimated the target to be nearly one crore. 

“Keeping in view the heatwave condition, which will worsen over coming months, we are planning to accelerate the drive so as to cover at least two lakh citizens daily and complete the target before the weather become more severe,” Mohapatra added.

While around 1.2 crore people in Odisha are eligible for COVID-19 vaccination, the state has so far received 25 lakh doses. More than 21.67 doses have already been administered.