BHUBANESWAR: Even as Odisha is among 12 states in the country to have crossed one crore vaccination mark, only around six per cent (pc) age appropriate people in the State have been fully inoculated so far.
As per the CoWIN portal, the State had administered 1,07,22,791 doses till 6 pm on Wednesday. Of the targeted 3,09,85,538 beneficiaries of 18 years age and above, 18,87,799 have got both the doses and 88,34,992 received only one shot.
Around 28.5 pc of the population aged 18 years plus have got at least one dose. Of them, 2.7 pc have received Covaxin while the rest have been administered Covishield. The vaccination coverage in most of western and southern Odisha districts, hit hard during the second wave, has been low as compared to other districts.
Only 18,612 people in Nuapada, 22,364 in Gajapati, 27,984 in Jharsuguda, 25,618 in Malkangiri, 33,534 in Nabarangpur, 37,204 in Rayagada, 42,326 in Balangir, 43,262 in Khurda, 45,513 in Bargarh and 58,866 in Sundargarh have been fully vaccinated.
Among other districts with lowest double-dose vaccination are Deogarh (12,745), Boudh (14,546), Sonepur (21,705), Kandhamal (26,685), Angul (33,711) and Sambalpur (48,452). The highest 4,44,292 people in Bhubaneswar have completed full vaccination and coverage is 52.7 per cent. Similarly, 1,52,040 in Ganjam, 1,18,866 in Cuttack, 1,10,112 in Balasore, 74,576 in Mayurbhanj have received both the doses.
Health authorities, however, insisted that the vaccination has picked up momentum now. The State has been administering on an average of three lakh vaccine doses for the last two days. Director of Family Welfare Dr Bijay Panigrahi said as indicated by the Centre, the supply of vaccine will now depend on the consumption by the states and that's why the districts have been asked to intensify the drive by adding more session sites and consume the stock as received.
"Our plan is to saturate the urban areas first. We expect the age appropriate people in Bhubaneswar will be fully vaccinated by end of July. With an average three lakh doses a day, we can cover the targeted population in next three months," he added.
Odisha on Wednesday administered 3.24 lakh doses. The State had inoculated 3.32 lakh people, the highest single-day vaccination so far, on Monday. Of the 3,24,947 beneficiaries received shots at 1,598 centres during the day, 2,98,386 got their first dose and the rest second dose.