Bhubaneswar: In order to strengthen the fight against COVID-19, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, in a video message on Saturday, urged the people of Odisha to participate in the 75-day special campaign and take precaution or booster doses of vaccines against COVID-19.
Raising concern over the consistent rise in daily COVID-19 cases in the state, Pradhan said that the Indian government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is emphasising rapid vaccination for the safety of the country and every citizen.
In just 18 months of the outbreak of COVID, India has made history in the world by vaccinating more than 200 crore people. The country has strengthened its own health infrastructure by making safe and effective COVID vaccines, as well as ensuring an accelerated vaccination process, the Union Minister added.
The Union Minister further stated that for the protection of the citizens, the government is giving two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and now the booster dose for free. A special campaign has been started from July 15 to 75 days to give booster doses.
In this campaign, citizens above 18 years of age are being vaccinated free of charge at government vaccination centres. But Odisha’s rate of taking COVID booster dose is lower than the national average. A total of 87 per cent of citizens of Odisha have not taken booster doses till now.
As of August 4, 3.23 crore people have received the first and second doses of the vaccine and only 42,34,000 people have taken the booster doses. Around 10 per cent of citizens in six districts including Cuttack, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Sundargarh, Puri and Angul, have not taken the first dose of the vaccine so far.
Around 25 lakh people in 8 districts of the state have not taken the second dose of vaccine, ” he added.
“Now there is a risk of further increase of COVID infection in the rainy season. Vaccination is the only weapon to fight this epidemic. So those who are eligible to take the dose should immediately go to the nearest government hospital and take the dose without delay. Encourage those who have not received a booster dose to receive the vaccine. Keep your family, community, state and country safe,” the Union Minister concluded.
