Those vaccinated against Covid-19 will have defence against the new mutated variant of the virus-Omicron, said the State Director of Family Welfare, Bijay Panigrahi on Tuesday.
“Though vaccines are not able to give cent percent protection against Omicron, those will at least provide cross protection to the vaccinated. Fully vaccinated people will not be that much critical if they are infected by Omicron. There is also a less chance of hospitalisation and death for them,” said Panigrahi.
Meanwhile, the Health Department in Odisha has urged one and all in the State to get vaccinated against Covid-19 at the earliest. The department has also urged social workers to encourage people to get the jabs.
“The number of Omicron cases is increasing in other states and there are chances that some people of the State will be infected by the new variant sooner or later. Under these circumstances, the unvaccinated will infect others. Hence, people should be more careful and get themselves vaccinated as soon as possible,” said Panigrahi.
Meanwhile, the State Health Department has constituted task forces in all the districts of the State to monitor the ongoing vaccination drive. The Chief District Medical Officers (CDMOs) have also been instructed to identify the unvaccinated people in various villages.
Notably, as many as 4.62 crore doses of vaccines have been administered to the people of the State so far. On the other hand, around 40 lakh people are yet to be administered the first dose of the vaccine.