BHUBANESWAR: Amid the shortfall of vaccines, Odisha government started inoculation of pregnant women in the State from Friday. Health department sources said 1,284 pregnant women got the jab in 26 districts as there was no vaccination in 24 districts due to inadequate vaccine supply.
As per the guideline, the beneficiaries were initially counselled about the benefits of the vaccine and the possible side effects. They were administered the vaccine following their consent. Director of Family Welfare Dr Bijay Panigrahi said a facility has been created in the CoWIN portal for expectant mothers and nursing women to get registered for inoculation. “They can book slots online for vaccination at nearest centres and also go for on-spot registration,” he said.
Around 4.5 lakh pregnant women will be vaccinated in the first phase. Dedicated waiting rooms have been set up at all vaccination centres so that they do not have to stand in queue with others. All pregnant women will be observed for 30 minutes for adverse events following immunisation if any, post-vaccination.
Meanwhile, the State government has prioritised second dose vaccination as the doses promised to Odisha this month are likely to fall short of the target. Around 70 pc of the stock will be used for beneficiaries due for the second dose and the rest for the first dose, Dr Panigrahi informed.
The State has been promised only 19,38,880 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccines up to August 2 against the second dose requirement of 28.31 lakh doses. As per the vaccine supply schedule shared by the Centre, the State will get 12,58,190 doses of Covishield and 3,07,350 doses of Covaxin in the next fortnight.
If the vaccine consignments as proposed by the Ministry of Health are supplied on time, the State will have a total of 24.33 lakh doses of vaccines for the rest of the month.