Covid-19 Vaccination In Odisha: Frontline Warriors To Get Jabs At Their Offices

Bhubaneswar:  Frontline warriors will be vaccinated at their respective office during the second spell of first phase Covid-19 vaccination drive that will begin from February 6, Health and Family Welfare department Director Bijay Panigrahy said on Wednesday.

"We have prepared a micro-plan to vaccinate the frontline workers at their respective offices. We will hire alternate vaccinators and train them accordingly for the purpose. The identification and training of the vaccinators will be completed within two days. Session sites will be set up in respective office premises. The vaccination will commence from February 6", Panigrahy said.

As many as 1,92,000 frontline warriors have been enrolled so far and more will be included in the database as the registration process is still in progress, the Health Director added.

The beneficiaries include sanitation workers, police, CRPF, other security personnel and supporting staff of Home, Urban Development and Revenue Departments, Panigrahy said, adding "We have set a target to cover all the frontline workers within three weeks."

The vaccination of frontline workers will be conducted simultaneously along with the drive for healthcare workers.

District Collectors, Municipal Commissioners, Directors of Capital Hospital and Rourkela Government Hospital have been directed to make necessary arrangements for vaccination sites other than the health facilities in their respective areas.

After three days lull for country-wide pulse polio vaccination programme, the Covid-19 inoculation exercise for health workers has resumed today. As many as 6,498 health workers will be vaccinated at 59 session sites which include 10 sites at Bhubaneswar where as many as 1600 health workers will be vaccinated today, Panigrahy pointed out.

He further informed over 2. 8 lakh health workers have already taken the jabs so far which stood 62% against the government target. The government is set to achieve 100% target by February 10, he maintained.

Meanwhile, as many as 83,500 shots of Covaxin and 63, 090 shots of Covishield vaccines have arrived in Odisha today.

The second dose of the first phase vaccination will be commenced from February 15, he informed.