Odisha to halt vaccination drive in 11 districts today

BHUBANESWAR :  Hit by vaccine shortage again, Odisha is set to halt the drive in 11 districts on Wednesday. The State had been administering an average of 2.5 lakh doses for last few days. The districts where no vaccine sessions have been planned are Angul, Balangir, Balasore, Bhadrak, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Kendrapara, Koraput and Sonepur.

Sources said the government will have to stop vaccination in more districts for two more days as the next allocation of Covishield is expected on July 2. Only 38,380 doses of Covishield are in stock at different cold chain points.

The Health department has planned only 210 sessions, including 68 for Covaxin in Bhubaneswar, on Wednesday. The inoculation was being conducted at more than 1,400 centres across the State for last five days barring on Tuesday when the total active sites were 521.    

Additional Chief Secretary of Health PK Mohapatra said since June 21 when the State had administered the highest 3.32 lakh doses, the lowest number of sessions will be held on June 30 due to the stock-out situation of Covishield.

As per the revised allocation of vaccine doses, the State has been promised 40.67 lakh doses of vaccines, including 33.75 lakh doses Covishield and 6.92 lakh doses of Covaxin, for inoculation in July. The allocation included 10.16 lakh doses for private hospitals. If the Centre supplies the vaccine as per the proposed allocation, the State can inoculate only around one lakh beneficiaries a day instead of its target of three lakh. It needs 72 lakh doses a month to meet its target.  

Mohapatra said the Centre has been requested to divert 80 per cent of the doses allocated for private hospitals to the State government quota as there are few takers at the private hospitals. “We are yet to get any communication in this regard,” he said. On Tuesday, 1,18,051 doses were administered in the State taking the total number of inoculations to 1,18,35,770.

Of the 3.1 crore targeted population, 22 lakh have been fully vaccinated and 96.29 lakh have got a single shot. Apart from 33,380 doses of Covishield, the State has 3.51 lakh doses of Covaxin in stock that is earmarked for only Bhubaneswar.  

Vaccination status
1,18,051 doses administered on Tuesday
1,18,35,770 total vaccinated
22 lakh fully vaccinated 
96.29 lakh got a single shot