Bhubaneswar: At a time when the vaccination drive has hit a roadblock in the state due to shortage of vaccine, an Air India flight carrying a total of 2.5 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine reached Bhubaneswar, Saturday.
According to health director Bijay Panigrahi, the state currently has around 1.26 lakh doses of Covishield vaccines while the per day requirement is 2.5 lakh doses.
Earlier, the state government had asked the centre to supply 25 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine immediately. As 2.5 lakh doses of the vaccine reached Odisha Saturday, the rest of the demanded amount is expected to be arriving in phases.
While the vaccination drive was underway at 1,476 centres across the state, over 700 vaccination centres were forced to shut down due to shortage of vaccine. With the arrival of the large consignment, the vaccination drive will resume at those centres.
PNN
