Third Wave Warning: 51% Adult Population In Odisha Partially Vaccinated; Fully Only 16% 

With only around 14 per cent of the adult population stands fully vaccinated against the Covid-19 to date in the country, the Centre has asked all the states to accelerate the administration of the second dose.

In the backdrop of an MHA panel warning about the likely peaking of Third-wave in the country in October, the Union Health Secretary has taken a review on the status of the vaccination drive today.

In the review meeting, the Union Health Secretary has stressed the following action plan.

• Bringing a definite district-level plan to increase coverage of the second dose.
• Advised states to undertake targeted strategies like earmarking specific days/ specific vaccination sites (CVC)s/ specific timings every day/ separate queue to exclusively administer the second dose of the vaccines.
• The States were also requested to identify districts whose vaccine coverage is lower than the State average and monitor as well as enhance the progress of vaccination in these districts.

Odisha Scenario

As per the data available, only 16 per cent of the targeted adult population in the State has been immunised completely, as they have taken the full dosage.

In Odisha, of the targeted 3.1 crore adult population, a total of over 49.71 lakh have been administered with two doses, whereas a total of 1.59 cr have been partially inoculated (taken only 1 dose).

The data shows when over 51 per cent of the targeted adult population in the State have been partially immunised, only over 16 per cent stands fully vaccinated.

Sub State Details

Except for Khordha,  where over 66 per cent of those who have taken the first dose stands fully vaccinated, in the majority of the district not even 1 of every 3 taken the first dose is to be administered the full vaccine dosage to date.

Nuapada fares poorest in the State as only 15.22 per cent of the adult population inoculated with the first dose stands fully immunised as of today.

The situation in Cuttack is far from satisfactory. only 32.26 percent of first dose takers had taken the full dosage.

Sundargarh, the prominent hotspot during the second wave, could deliver full dosage to only 27.16 per cent of total first dose takers.

The data doesn't paint a promising scenario in western and southern Odisha. In Balangir, the proportion is measured at around 16 per cent. Nabarangpur, Rayagada and Gajapati fail to show any good stride. The proportion there varies between 16-25 per cent.

The largest vaccination drive fails to bring up any enthusing numbers in the tribal region of the State, with only a few exceptions. The vaccination rate in Kandhamal and Koraput is also moving at a snail's pace.