BHUBANESWAR: Odisha may be among the states having administered single dose Covid vaccine to over 50 per cent (pc) of targeted population but the second dose coverage has been abysmally low in 18 districts.
As per the vaccination statistics available at CoWIN portal, only 15 pc of the first dose beneficiaries has got second dose in Nuapada, followed by 16 pc in Balangir, 17 pc in Deogarh, 18 pc in Nabarangpur, 18.8 pc in Boudh, 19 pc in Malkangiri, 20 pc in Sonepur, 21.7 pc in Gajapati and 24 pc in Kandhamal.
Other districts among the lowest second dose inoculation included Bhadrak, Kalahandi, Jharsuguda, Rayagada, Koraput, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Nayagarh, and Mayurbhanj where the coverage was below 27 pc. The second dose vaccine coverage was the highest 69 pc in Khurda, 48 pc in Ganjam, 40.8 pc in Jagatsinghpur, 39 pc in Balasore, 37 pc in Cuttack, 29 pc in Puri and 29.3 pc in Sundargarh, 28 pc each in Sambalpur and Jajpur.
The rural and urban coverage stood at 65:35 in the State. As many as 1.21 crore men and 1.11 crore women have received at least a single dose and among the age-appropriate groups, 51.55 lakh senior citizens, 72.89 lakh people, aged 45-60 years and 1,07 crore people of 18-44 years have been administered the vaccine.
Director of Family Welfare and nodal officer of Covid-19 vaccination Dr Bijay Panigrahi said districts administering Covishield have the low second dose coverage and it was due to rise in gap up to 112 days between two doses besides, the short supply of vaccine.
The beneficiaries, however, alleged that not only the vaccine, shortage of syringes has also affected vaccination in some of the districts and the local administration often failed to plan vaccination sessions on priority basis. Overall, the highest 27.33 lakh doses have been administered in Khurda district, 24.86 lakh doses in Ganjam and 13.81 lakh in Cuttack.