Bhubaneswar: Odisha is all set to receive a fresh lot of one lakh doses of Covishield vaccines today.
“So far, 55,50,380 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered. Western Odisha is being given the vaccines on priority basis considering the unprecedented spike in that part of the State. Only after taking two jabs of the vaccine, one can be protected from infection,” said Health and Family Welfare Director Bijay Panigrahy.
“Currently, only citizens above the age of 45 are allowed to take the vaccine. All citizens aged above 18 will be eligible for vaccination which will start from May 1. The department will prepare an elaborate plan of action for the mass vaccination programme following deliberation today,” said Panigrahy.
According to official sources, Odisha currently has a stock of 3.7 lakh shots of Covaxin and one lakh shots of Covishield vaccines.
Earlier yesterday, the Odisha government decided to stop providing Covid-19 vaccines to private hospitals from May 1 as the State is scheduled to launch vaccination for all above 18 years as per the Central government’s guidelines.
Meanwhile, the State government has targeted to ramp up testing to 50,000 samples on daily basis. Currently, 43,000 to 45,000 samples are being tested daily.
As many as 11,000 beds are available in hospitals in the State out of which 2700 have been occupied by Covid-19 patients. As private hospitals have been asked to reserve 50% beds for Covid-19 patients, a technical team has been formed to keep a close watch on it. Both government and private hospitals have been asked to arrange separate fever wards to prevent cross infections.