Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Government has put a stop on drive-in and doorstep vaccinations to check the spread of COVID-19 as well as wastage of the vaccines.
Additional Chief Secretary of Health and Family Welfare department, PK Mohapatra issued the order citing the guidelines of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
As per the guidelines, the person vaccinated should be kept under observation for 30 minutes. Moreover, there should be adequate equipment to store the vaccine under the prescribed temperatures.
On the other hand, the government has given permission to three private hospitals to start vaccination.
Those are SUM Hospital in Bhubaneswar, Christian Hospital in Berhampur and Kishore Hospital in Bargarh. These hospital will launch the vaccination after receiving the vaccine doses.
These hospitals had contacted Serum Institute of India (SII) for procurement of 12,000 doses of Covishield vaccine each, informed the ACS, Health and Family Welfare.
He has written to the district collectors, municipal commissioners, CDMOs and PHOs and informed them about the vaccination.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed Odisha government about private hospitals who have placed orders with the vaccine manufacturer, mentioned the letter.
Worth mentioning, the Government of India allowed private hospitals to procure COVID vaccine directly from manufacturer under its new strategy to speed-up the inoculation process.
The Health and Family Welfare department issued guidelines for private hospitals to ensure seamless vaccination of eligible beneficiaries.