Odisha inoculates over one crore people with 1st dose of COVID-19 vaccine

Bhubaneswar, Jul 4 (PTI) Odisha on Sunday achieved a milestone by inoculating over 1 crore people, out of the states 4.5 crore population, with the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare PK Mohapatra said.

According to information available in the CoWIN portal, as many as 1,00,06,081 people have been administered the first dose of the vaccine, while 22,10,303 received both doses.

A total of 1,22,16,384 doses have been administered, which includes 1,07,32, 924 doses of Covishield and 14,83,090 doses of Covaxin.

Along with the rest of the country, the inoculation drive against COVID-19 began in the coastal state on January 16 this year.

"As we steadily move towards universal vaccination coverage for our eligible population, we thank the people of Odisha and our dedicated healthcare workers for making this possible," the H&FW department said in its official Twitter post.

Khurda district, of which the state capital Bhubaneswar is a part, has registered the highest number of vaccinations with 12,15,321 first doses and 5,66,807 second doses, to date.

As many as 14,814 people were administered vaccines at 163 centres in three districts on Sunday.

While 80 sessions were held in Kendrapada district, 67 sessions were in Puri and 16 in Rayagada.

Though the state government planned to administer 3 lakh to 3.5 lakh doses every day since June 21, it failed to achieve the target due to an acute shortage of the Covishield vaccines, which is given to people across Odisha, except those in the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation area.

The state government has decided to vaccinate beneficiaries with Covaxin in Ganjam district from Monday.

The state government has repeatedly urged the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to divert 20 per cent of the vaccines earmarked for the private hospitals.

But, no response has been received from the Ministry so far, official sources said.

Meanwhile, Odishas state capital is all set to become the first city in the country to achieve a hundred per cent COVID-19 vaccination with the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) planning to administer the second dose to the eligible people by July 31.

BMC Commissioner SK Singh said those who had received the first dose after booking slots online will be administered the second dose by July 31.

The civic body has allowed citizens of all age groups (18-44 years and 45 years+) to avail walk-in facilities for receiving the vaccine at vaccination centres after having closed the online slot booking process.

Against the 10.97 lakh population of Bhubaneswar, 9.67 lakh have already taken the first dose and 5.15 lakh beneficiaries have been administered the second dose as on July 3. PTI AAM MM MM