Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Friday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow inoculation of children in the age group of 12 to 18 years at the earliest due to the anticipated third wave of COVID-19.
The CM also demanded an increase in the allocation of vaccines for the state to 95 per cent, and a reduction in the share of private hospitals to 5 per cent, to expedite the inoculation drive in the state.
Voicing concern over a possible third wave and its impact on children, Patnaik proposed, “I would like to request that the vaccines for the age group of 12-18 years may be prioritised and rolled out at the earliest.”
PM Modi Friday held an interaction with CMs of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Maharashtra and Kerala, which accounted for 80 per cent of the new COVID-19 cases last week in the country.
Official sources said that as many as 49,076 children below 14 years tested positive for COVID-19 during the first wave and the prevailing second wave of the pandemic in Odisha.
Patnaik also demanded that the vaccine distribution between the state government and private hospitals should be in the ratio of 95:5 instead of the existing 75:25.
The CM made the demand before the PM after the state government’s letters to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the minister concerned failed to yield any result.
Earlier, Health and Family Welfare Minister NK Das had written several letters to his counterpart in the Union government.
Additional Chief Secretary of the department PK Mohapatra had also requested the ministry to modify the vaccine allocation policy.
The state government believes that due to the low presence of private hospitals in the state, the lifting of the vaccines from the 25 per cent quota has been less.
On the other hand, the state government which has the infrastructure for inoculating over three lakh people on a single day, is facing an acute shortage of vaccines.
The scarcity of vaccines has led to suspension of inoculation drives for several days in a month.
While justifying the state’s demand for more vaccines, Patnaik claimed that Odisha has been performing very well in vaccination. Odisha’s vaccine wastage is among the lowest in the country, the CM said.
PNN