BHUBANESWAR: The second dose of COVID-19 vaccine will be administered to healthcare workers (HCWs) in Odisha from February 15. The deadline for the second round of the first phase vaccination drive, in which all the registered HCWs were supposed to be inoculated by February 10, has also been extended till February 13 in view of the poor turnout.
"The second dose, scheduled to be given after 28 days of the first dose to the beneficiaries covered in the phase I, will start from February 15," said Health and Family Welfare Additional Chief Secretary PK Mohapatra.
By Wednesday, all districts were supposed to achieve 100 percent coverage of first phase vaccination. "As the districts have not been able to achieve this target, the deadline has been extended till February 13," he said.
The Additional Chief Secretary asked district collectors, municipal commissioners, CDMOs and public health officials to ensure 100 per cent vaccination of the remaining healthcare workers by the extended deadline.
Around 2.73 lakh (80.8 per cent) out of a total 3.38 lakh HCWs registered in the first phase have been vaccinated so far. Cuttack has the poorest coverage of 67.1 per cent beneficiaries. In the State Capital, the coverage is around 80.3 per cent.
Sambalpur is the only district where over 90 per cent HCWs have been vaccinated in the first phase so far.
Apart from HCWs, 87,976 out of 2.04 lakh registered frontline workers (FLWs) have been covered in the second phase vaccination drive so far. The second phase drive is continuing in the State since February 6.