Bhubaneswar: The state government plans to start a vaccination drive for people in the age group of 18-44 years in four cities of Odisha in the next few days.
This comes in the wake of the state receiving the first consignment of one lakh Covishield doses directly from the Serum Institute of India, Pune.
According to the state Health department, these vaccine doses would not be dispatched to the rural areas but will be sent to high burden urban areas to inoculate people in the 18-44 years age group.
“We have received 1 lakh doses of Covishield Saturday. We are now preparing a micro-plan to distribute them in areas beyond Bhubaneswar. In Bhubaneswar we are providing Covaxin. We have decided that the recently received stock of Covishield will be diverted to four high burden municipal areas,” Dr Bijaya Panigrahy, Director, state Health and Family Welfare, told Orissa POST.
The official said that these vaccine doses will be sent to Cuttack, Berhampur, Rourkela and Sambalpur, adding that the current stock is limited and would not last long.
The Health department, however, is not aware about receiving any new consignment of vaccine doses from either Serum Institute or Bharat Biotech.
The department is yet to dispatch the new supply and is working on a detailed plan to send the vaccines to the four urban areas. When asked about the number of persons between 18 and 44 years in Odisha who have registered themselves for vaccination on the Co-WIN app, the department said that they have not received any information on this.
PNN
