Bhubaneswar: Odisha Health Minister Naba Kishore Das has requested the Centre for urgent supply of additional 6 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine to the state to manage vaccination sessions.
In a letter to Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Minister Naba Das urged for urgent supply of COVID-19 vaccines to Odisha for smooth management of the vaccination drive.
Das appraised the Union Health Minister that Odisha has taken various steps to ensure that the vaccination program goes on smoothly across the state. Due to the proactive awareness campaign of the state, people have been coming forward for vaccination and there is a huge demand for vaccines.
Since 16th January 2021, Odisha has administered 1.14 crore doses of vaccines to citizens and maintained a negative wastage of 3% with a saving of 2.9 lakh doses. Since 21st June, Odisha is vaccinating an average of 3 lakh citizens per day. Now, Odisha has the capacity to vaccinate 3.5 lath citizens per day.
As per allocation for June (2nd fortnight), Odisha received 13,78,310 doses of Covishield vaccine which has been distributed to all districts. As of today, Odisha has a stock of 3.38 lakh doses of Covishleld, which will be utilised within two days.
From Tuesday onwards there will be stock out of Covishield in the State and conduct of vaccination session will not be possible in the state after that, the Odisha Health Minister stated.
The Odisha Health Minister requested Dr. Harsh Vardhan to allocate an additional 6 lath doses of Covishield vaccine to Odisha for the month of June to manage sessions in the State smoothly. He further requested that vaccine pre-positioning should be done in advance, so as to prevent any event of stock-out in the Stale and help plan sessions and mobilize beneficiaries in advance.
