In view of the anticipated third wave of Covid-19 and its likely impact on children, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday urged the Centre for the roll out of vaccines for the vulnerable population.
During a virtual meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Patnaik proposed, “I would like to request that the vaccines for the age group- 12-18 years may be prioritised and rolled out at the earliest.
PM Modi today held discussions with chief ministers of six states including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Maharashtra and Kerala which accounted for nearly 80 per cent of the new Covid cases last week in the country.
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The Prime Minister urged the states to take proactive measures to prevent a third wave and stressed on moving forward with the strategy of test, track, treat and 'tika (vaccine)'.
Meanwhile, the Odisha CM sought 95 per cent vaccine allocation for the State. Patnaik said that Odisha has been performing very well in vaccination and the total wastage is among the lowest in the country.
However, due to low presence of private hospitals in the state, the lifting of the vaccines from the 25% quota has been less.
It is pertinent to mention here that Odisha government had earlier urged the Centre to increase the allocation to the State to 95% and reduce the allocation to private hospitals to 5%. The move would have helped the State in increasing the pace of vaccination.
"We have to move forward with our strategy of test, track, treat and tika," said Modi while urging the States to go for micro-containment zones to prevent the spread of the virus.
Earlier on Tuesday, PM Modi had interacted with chief ministers of eight North-Eastern states through video conferencing, and had urged to ramp up vaccination drive to deal with the pandemic.