Odisha surpasses vaccine target as over 2.5 lakh people take jabs

BHUBANESWAR: AMID the surge in Covid-19 cases, Odisha government conducted a record 2.5 lakh vaccinations on Friday surpassing the target of 2 lakh inoculations.Health department sources said of the total 2,52,080 people who were administered the vaccines, maximum 1,70,069 people aged 45 and above got the jab at 1,411 vaccination centres across the State.

As many as 1,69,344 persons above 45 years received the first dose on the second day. The vaccination window for the age group was opened on April 1. Other inoculated beneficiaries included 78,307 senior citizens, 1,298 healthcare workers and 2,406 frontline workers.Additional Chief Secretary of Health PK Mohapatra said though the target was to vaccinate at least 2 lakh people, the number crossed 2.5 lakh as many people directly arrived at vaccination centres for on-site registration and inoculation.

“It is a good sign that people are coming forward. We are ready with the infrastructure and once the required vaccine doses are available, we can plan for three lakh vaccinations a day in the coming days. We have urged the Centre for more doses so that we can plan the sessions for 15 days in advance,” he said.Of around 40 lakh doses of both Covishield and Covaxin received so far, the State has a stock of 11.5 lakh doses which will cater to the needs for four days. As many as 28,66,255 doses have been used and the State has a vaccine wastage of around 0.2 per cent.   

The State, which has a target of 1.2 crore vaccinations, ranked 12th in terms of number of doses used so far. Maharashtra topped the list with over 65 lakh doses. Bihar is above Odisha with over 30 lakh doses.     
“We have asked the districts where Covid cases are on the surge to complete vaccination of people with comorbidities within two weeks. Others have also been directed to increase the number of centres so that more people can be inoculated. We have planned to cover the targeted population by early May,” Mohapatra added.