Odisha takes steps to vaccinate transgender persons

BHUBANESWAR: The state government has taken steps for Covid-19 vaccination of transgender persons. Union ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) has communicated to the state to facilitate the vaccination of these persons without any discrimination or causing any inconvenience and social stigma.
Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra, additional chief secretary (health), has asked all district collectors, commissioner of all municipal corporations and chief district medical and public health officers along with their team to ensure 100 per cent coverage of transgender persons.
“If such persons do not have prescribed identity card, then standard operating procedures (SoPs) communicated earlier regarding vaccination of citizens without any prescribed identity card shall be followed and registration and vaccination shall be ensured,” said Mohapatra in the letter.
Meanwhile, Covid-19 vaccination of pregnant women has commenced in the state from Friday. On July 2, the MoHFW had allowed pregnant women to take Covid-19 vaccination.
Bijay Panigrahi, state nodal officer for immunization and family welfare director, said that a new feature for pregnant women has been added to the CoWIN portal to maintain their database.
Health department sources said 1284 pregnant women have taken their first dose of the vaccine on Friday. Frontline health workers and vaccinators are counselling pregnant women about the vaccine so that the expecting mothers can make an informed decision.
Earlier, the government had allowed lactating mothers to take the Covid-19 vaccine doses to get protection from the deadly virus.