Bhubaneswar: Odisha aims at achieving a record performance on the fifth day of the ongoing Covid-19 immunisation programme on Thursday.
"Since there is no general immunisation programme today, all the health professionals have been engaged in the Covid-19 vaccination drive. We are aiming at vaccinating a record number of 3,7076 health workers at 436 session sites across the State today. We expect to set a record in the ongoing vaccination programme today," Health Director Bijay Panigrahy informed.
He said the performance of the drive was also encouraging on Wednesday. "We achieved 89% of our target by vaccinating 7, 946 healthcare workers at 93 session sites yesterday," he said.
In Bhubaneswar city, as many as 1,647 health professionals were vaccinated yesterday which is 118% against the fixed government target, Panigrahy pointed out.
"It is a matter of great satisfaction that not a single case of any adverse impact following immunisation had been reported from anywhere in the State yesterday," Panigrahy said.
He further stated that as many as 68, 743 health workers and frontline warriors have already received the jab in Odisha so far. There are enough vaccine doses stored in the store. The vaccination will continue in the State without any hitch, he added.
The second consignment of Covaxin is expected to arrive in the State by next week, Panigrahy informed.
Health workers have evinced keen interest to get vaccinated. There is no resistance from anywhere in the State, he maintained.
"We will definitely achieve 100% coverage. Health workers have faith in the vaccine as there is no serious adverse effect has been reported from anywhere in the State and outside. So, they are coming forward spontaneously to receive the jab", Panigrahy told reporters.
Appealing to the striking health workers to get vaccinated, the Health Director said that they should put forth their demands before government through a different forum.
“But, they should not link the vaccination programme to their agitation,” he added while advising the striking staff to receive the jab for their own and others' safety.
Meanwhile, the gap between daily discovery and recovery case of Covid-19 has been closing up fast, leaving fewer than 1500 active cases at present.