Odisha govt eyes 1 lakh jabs daily for elderly

BHUBANESWAR: The state government is planning to step up vaccination and inoculate at least one lakh senior citizens per day within the next few days.

Additional chief secretary (health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said the decision to intensify the daily coverage for the elderly was taken after the state received more than nine lakh (904180) additional doses of Covishield on Tuesday and the assurance from the Centre of steady supply of vaccine.

The top health administrator said people above 60 years in rural areas will be mobilized by ASHAs and anganwadi workers for cohort registration and vaccination to cover large number of people quickly. With around 45 lakh people above 60 years age, the government aims to complete their first dose by April end. This will further add to those walking into vaccination centres and people with prior registration in Co-WIN portal, which is more in urban areas.

Private hospitals will be encouraged to use more vaccines for wider coverage and reduce rush in government facilities. Apart from one lakh shots of elderly, the second dose inoculation of healthcare workers and frontline workers as per their due dates will continue simultaneously. The first dose inoculation of the first two priority groups of healthcare workers (HCWs) and frontline workers (FLWs) is nearing completion, he said.

The state on Tuesday gave the shots to total 63,929 including 37,407 elderly people raising the total number of elderly vaccinated with first dose in state to 2,25,365. On Monday, the state had inoculated the single day highest of 85,884 people including 48,024 people in 60 years or above bracket.

Among the districts, while the highest of 28,036 senior citizens have taken the vaccine in Ganjam, the lowest 427 have received the shots in Deogarh. Total 2,55,031 people have completed the full vaccination (two doses) in Odisha. They include 2,17,563 HCWs and 37,468 FLWs.

Total 9,68,766 doses of vaccines have been given including the first and second doses.