BHUBANESWAR: Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Kisore Das wrote to Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan for the second time on Monday requesting the Centre to supply 25 lakh doses of vaccine to the State.
Odisha on Monday received 2.71 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine. However, Das in his letter apprised the Union minister that the fresh stock of the vaccine will last only for one day. The State also has only 71,010 doses of Covaxin, he said.
Das said that till April 3, Odisha used to organise 1,476 vaccination sessions and vaccinate around 2.71 beneficiaries in a single day. However, shortage of vaccines has forced the Health department to close around 700 session sites.
“Our daily vaccination has come down to around 1 lakh though we have a capacity of inoculating 3 lakh beneficiaries a day,” he said and added that the State has not been able to observe ‘Tika Utsav’ due to shortage of vaccines.
Das requested Harsh Vardhan to ensure supply of vaccines for at least 10 days as an emergency measure to enable the State to plan sessions and undertake the ongoing vaccination drive effectively. As many as 1.40 lakh beneficiaries including 81,412 people in the age group of 45 to 59 years were vaccinated on the day.