Suryakant Jena

Bhubaneswar: Odisha government is preparing a database of senior citizens and people aged above 45 years of age and suffering from comorbidities who will undergo inoculation from March 1 in the next round of COVID-19 vaccine roll-out, chief of the Directorate of Medical Education & Training (DMET) CBK Mohanty said on Thursday.

Mohanty said that the elderly and comorbid people will be administered vaccine after registration as per the guidelines laid down by the Centre.

Vaccination centres will be prepared as per the total number of beneficiaries who will register their names to take part in the drive.

While vaccination will be free of cost in government hospitals, the rate of vaccination in private hospitals will be fixed by the Centre.

"The Union Health Ministry will launch Co-WIN 2.0 (CoVID-19 Vaccine Intelligence Network), the next phase of Coronavirus vaccination in the country in the next few days and accordingly, we will also start our drive," Mohanty said.

After registration, people will be asked to take the vaccine at the nearby govt hospital but those interested in private hospitals will be accordingly allotted slot.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday announced that people above 60 years and those above the age of 45 years with comorbidities will be given the COVID-19 vaccine free-of-cost at 10,000 government hospitals. The government has also authorised 20,000 private centres to give out the shots.

Odisha government has also written to the district collectors and municipal commissioners on the operational strategy for initiating the vaccination.

Additional Chief Secretary of Health department, PK Mohapatra said that in view of the anticipated high number of beneficiaries, all the public health facilities from tertiary level Medical Colleges and Hospital, Districts Headquarter hospitals, Sub-Divisional Hospitals, CHCs, PHCs, Health and Wellness Centre and Sub-Centres should be prepared for offering COVID-19 vaccination services.

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