BHUBANESWAR: Even as Odisha has emerged as a leading State in Covid-19 vaccination drive with 1.52 lakh total beneficiaries and 3,452.81 vaccinations per million populace, the State is unlikely to meet its target of inoculating 1.92 lakh healthcare workers (HCWs) by Monday.The Health and Family Welfare department has planned 312 sessions in all 30 districts with a target to administer the vaccines to 26,924 beneficiaries on the last day of the first phase.
Director of Family Welfare Dr Bijay Kumar Panigrahy said though Monday’s target will be achieved going by the trend in last three days, it may not be possible to cover the rest around 40,000 HCWs on one day. “But it is a good sign that the HCWs are coming forward for vaccination after initial days of hiccups. The coverage in the State has been impressive. Those who did not come to the centre despite flexibility of location will not get the vaccine free anymore,” he clarified.
While the State topped the list in terms of vaccinations per million population, it is ranked third in terms of total number of beneficiaries covered so far. The government has decided to start the next phase vaccination of the rest around 1.88 lakh HCWs from February 27. The inoculation of frontline workers, who were deployed in the management of the pandemic, will start thereafter.
Dr Panigrahy said arrangements have been made to cover all the enrolled HCWs by March 10. “We have sufficient doses of both Covishield and Covaxin vaccines. District officials are counselling the reluctant beneficiaries to get the jab. Those who are not taking the shot in protest have been urged to come through proper forum to get their issues resolved. The vaccine will protect them from the disease. They can press for their demands latter on,” he added.
Earlier, around 15,000 field-level health workers had announced not to get administered the vaccines protesting the government apathy for cadre restructuring and change of designation. So far, as many as 1,52,371 people, including 8,565 in Bhubaneswar, have been vaccinated in the State.