Shot In The Arm For Vaccine-Strapped Odisha, But How Long Can It Continue With Jabs

Bhubaneswar: Even as Odisha is battling an acute shortage of COVID-19 vaccines, the Centre will dispatch another consignment of 2 lakh doses of Covishield on Tuesday, informed Director of Health and Family Welfare, Bijay Panigrahi.

The fresh batch will arrive in a special cargo flight on Tuesday afternoon, Panigrahi told the media.

A day earlier on Monday, the Odisha government had received a consignment of 2.71 doses of Covishield vaccine. Earlier on Saturday, the state had received 2.5 lakh doses of Covishield.

Also Read: Odisha Receives Another 2.71 Lakh Doses Of Covishield Vaccines

However, the fresh consignments of the vaccine have not helped Odisha’s cause much.

Panigrahi said due to shortage of doses, vaccination had to be halted at all session sites in 11 districts — Jajpur, Bhadrak, Puri, Nayagarh, Sonepur, Gajapati, Boudh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Dhenkanal and Koraput.

In rest of the 19 districts, vaccination is underway at 500 session sites, he added.

Overall, the state now has 61,000 doses of Covaxin and more than 3 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine. After the fresh consignment of vaccines to be received on Tuesday, Odisha will be able to continue the drive for three days, he added.