Odisha: 50% of 18-44 age group get jab in Puri town

BHUBANESWAR: As the vaccine wastage of Odisha stands at a phenomenal -4% against the backdrop of its short supply, the Puri district administration has vaccinated almost 50% of the target population in the 18-44 age group in the municipality area within a week. The vaccination of the 18-44 year age group started in Puri on May 24.
The district administration had identified 74,000 beneficiaries in the 18-44 year age-group for inoculation in Puri town alone. Its total population is around 2.01 lakh.
“Around 35,000 people in the 18-44 age group have been vaccinated in Puri town in the last seven days, which is around 50% of the target population in that age group in the town. Excellent work by all health and municipality staff,” tweeted Puri district collector Samarth Verma on Sunday.
The administration said the 35,000 vaccinated persons in the 18-44 age group included around 1,500 servitors of the Jagannath Temple. Altogether 4,318 servitors in the said age group would be covered during the inoculation drive ahead of Rath Yatra on July 12.
“The faster pace of vaccination has emptied the vaccine stock for the 18-44 year age group in Puri. We are left with no vaccine now for the 18-44 year age group. We are hopeful of getting the vaccine from the government in the first week of June,” Verma said.
The government has, so far, started the vaccination of the 18-44 age group in five municipal corporation areas of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Sambalpur and Rourkela and at Khurda, Puri, Bargarh, Bhawanipatna, Koraput, Nabarangpur and Keonjhar.
Of the target population of 5.23 lakh in the 18-44 year age group in Bhubaneswar, at least 1,51,556 persons (29%) have been vaccinated so far. The vaccination of the particular age group started in the capital city from May 3. It was extended to some other cities and towns after a few days. Of the 3,10,232 target population in Cuttack, at least 1,04,173 persons (33.5%) have been inoculated.
“Since Puri municipality area’s population is far less than that of the municipal corporation areas, we carried out the drive in a mission mode. This apart, we ensured that vaccine wastage remained below 1%,” another district official said.