Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Friday sought 95 per cent vaccine allocation for the state during a virtual meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Prime Minister today held a discussion with the Chief Ministers of six states including Odisha where the test positivity rate is high.
Odisha is among the six states contributing 73.4 per cent of the country’s total Covid cases in the first two weeks of July.
The other Chief Ministers who participated in the meeting today are of Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
Patnaik said Odisha has been performing very well in vaccination and claimed that the vaccine wastage in Odisha is the lowest among the states in the country.
Patnaik, however, said due to fewer numbers of private hospitals in the state the lifting of the vaccines from the 25 per cent quota for the private hospital has been very low.
Referring to his earlier communication with the central government on the issue, Patnaik said the state has written to the Union government to increase the state’s allocation to 95 per cent while reducing the private hospital allocation to 5 per cent.
This will help in increasing the pace of vaccination in the state, he said.
Expressing his concern over the anticipated third wave and its impact on children Patnaik also requested the Prime Minister to prioritise vaccines for the children in the age group of 12-18 and roll it out at the earliest.
UNI
