BHUBANESWAR: As several cities in the country have been witnessing a surge in Omicron cases, the State government has set a target to cover the entire adolescent population with both doses of vaccine in a month.
The online registration for vaccine shots for the target population aged 15 to 18, will begin from January 1 and inoculation will start from January 3.
The State government has decided to administer vaccine to teenagers at the existing session sites from 8 am to 1 pm. Special camps and vaccination centres will also be opened at schools and colleges with a target to inoculate two lakh teenagers a day.
The eligible beneficiaries can register on the CoWIN app with the help of their school, college identity card. An additional option of ID card has been added to the registration portal as some might not have Aadhaar or other identity cards.
Family Welfare Director Dr Bijay Panigrahi said, “The inoculation of teenagers will be conducted in the morning hours and beneficiaries from other categories will be administered vaccines in the afternoon. We have a target to complete the first dose vaccination of 18 plus population by mid-January,” he said.
The Health and Family Welfare department has asked all collectors and municipal commissioners to open dedicated session sites depending on the target beneficiaries in their respective areas.
“We have a total 23.65 lakh teenagers. Since the vaccination has picked up pace following detection of Omicron cases, we expect there will be no hesitation and the process will be completed by mid-February,” he added.