PM Modi To Kickstart COVID-19 Vaccination: 16K In Odisha To Take The Jab On Day 1

Bhubaneswar: In tandem with the massive vaccination programme against coronavirus that is set to be launched in the Country from Saturday (January 16), Odisha is more than 100 per cent ready to begin the Covid-19 vaccination drive in the State.

The epochal vaccination programme in the State will commence from 10:30 in the morning on Saturday. And on Day 1, a total of 16,100 corona warriors will take the shot in their arms. The phase –I vaccination drive in the State will continue for a period of over 12 days.

“The vaccination programme will start at 10:30 am on Saturday, when PM Narendra Modi will virtually kick start the programme at two centres in Odisha – Capital Hospital, Bhubaneswar and DHH, Sundargarh. Post the launch, CM Naveen Patnaik will join the 161 vaccination sites via video conferencing,” said State Vaccine Nodal Officer Bijaya Kumar Mishra.

However, highly placed sources informed that CM Patnaik will first interact with some recipients at the sites in Ganjam, Sundargarh and Jharsuguda, and then follow up with the other vaccination sites in the State.

Since the Covid-19 vaccination is considered as the largest vaccination drive in the country so far, it’s the right time to look at the economy of administration of Covid-19 vaccine to selected beneficiaries in Odisha.

The Vaccine Cost Analysis

According to the Union Health Ministry data, while the rate per dose of Covishield, manufactured by Serum Institute India (SII), has been fixed at Rs 210, including GST, the per-dose price of indigenous vaccine Covaxin, manufactured by Bharat Biotech, stands at Rs 310, including GST.

“While the dispatch of the Covid-19 vaccines to the State, including the transport cost from manufacturers, has cost the Centre over Rs 22.2 crore, the Odisha government will spend another Rs 8.45 crore to administer the vaccines to the beneficiaries in the State,” explained a senior NHM official.

The government of India is bearing the expenses of vaccines and transport cost from the manufacturer to the State. And Odisha will bear the cost of intra-state transfer and booth level administration cost, he outlined.

The senior official further added that in order to vaccinate over 1.5 crore people in Odisha, including the beneficiaries in the 50 plus age-group, the State will spend a whopping Rs 187 crore during this year alone.

As per the vaccine policy of Union Health Ministry, the Government of India has set a target immunisation of over 30 crore population by the end of August this year.