BHUBANESWAR: The state government extended the deadline for first dose vaccination of healthcare workers (HCWs) by three days till Saturday giving another chance to those who didn’t take the shots. The earlier deadline was Wednesday.
Additional chief secretary (health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said any registered HCW who missed taking the vaccine will get a chance to take the vaccine in these three days. Those who may have been unwilling earlier but change their minds can also take the vaccine, he said.
Anyone registered—including those who have given self-declaration not to take the vaccine—can avail the opportunities during these three days after which the government would not give them vaccine free of cost, he said.
Stating that all districts were supposed to achieve 100% coverage of 1st dose vaccination of HCWs by Wednesday, Mohapatra asked the district collectors and municipal commissioners to closely monitor the ‘mop up’ round to ensure 100% vaccination of the remaining HCWs during this period. The second dose vaccination of HCWs (which is 28 days after the first dose) will commence from February 15, he said.
As many as 4,261 HCWs were vaccinated on Wednesday raising their total number to 2,73,647, which is around 80.8% of the targeted 3,38,700. The national average for HCWs is 57.4%. Odisha is among top four states in vaccination percentage after Bihar, Tripura and Madhya Pradesh.
The final targeted figure may change as there were still some duplications with same person registered more than once increasing the percentage of vaccination, official sources said.
With more than 90% vaccination, Sambalpur leads the list. Cuttack continues to remain at the bottom with 67.1% of its targeted HCWs inoculated.
The state administered the vaccine to 15,108 front-line workers (FLWs) raising the total number of vaccinated FLWs to 87,976 against a target of 2,04,469, which is around 43%.
So far Odisha has reported 21 incidents of adverse events following immunization. Except one death in Nuapada district (which the government said was not relating to vaccination), the symptoms were mild among all others.