'Covid-19 Vaccine To Reach Odisha In Next Few Days'

Bhubaneswar: Ahead of its nation-wide rollout on January 16, the much-awaited COVID-19 vaccine is expected to reach Odisha in the next couple of days.

State Health department officials on Monday said that the COVID-19 vaccine is likely to reach at least two-three days before the launching of the mass immunization drive in the State.

“We had conducted a dry run and all preparations have reached final stages for the COVID-19 vaccination in the State,” said Bijay Panigrahi, director of health and family welfare department.

According to Panigrahi, the State government has identified 160 session sites for carrying out the vaccination drive. Besides this, there will be a two-way communication between Capital hospital in Bhubaneswar and District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) Sundergarh to keep a direct contact with the Centre on the COVID-19 vaccination.

Dr Laxmidhar Sahu, director of Capital Hospital said that everybody is desperately waiting for the mass immunization drive. “The direct communication with the Centre including PM and CM will certainly help to allay all the fears in the minds of people about the COVID-19 vaccine,” he said.

Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting to review the status of Covid-19 in the country along with the preparedness of the states and UTs for the immunization drive.

The Union Health Ministry said that the much-awaited coronavirus vaccination drive will kick off on January 16.

The roll-out of Covid-19 vaccine will give priority to the healthcare and frontline workers who are estimated to be around 3 crore. After that those above 50 years of age and the under-50 population groups with comorbidities who account for around 27 crore of the country’s population will be subjected to vaccination.

(Edited  By Ramakant Biswas)