BHUBANESWAR : In a bid to maximise its vaccination base, the State government has decided to rope in private hospitals to conduct inoculation of people aged 18 to 44 years. The government will provide both Covaxin and Covishield vaccines to the private hospitals and centres for administration to people free of cost. Beneficiaries will have to pay only Rs 100 administration fee per dose as decided earlier by the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry.
Additional Chief Secretary of Health department PK Mohapatra said the hospitals, which were conducting vaccination drive till April 30, will conduct the vaccination of 18-44 age group people. Mohapatra said those who have taken the first dose of vaccine in private facilities can take the second dose in any government facility free of cost. “Now, we are inoculating around 16,500 doses in a day in Bhubaneswar. Once private facilities start vaccination, it will touch up to 30,000 doses a day,” he said.
As soon as the State gets its quota of Covishield, he said priority will be given to vaccinate the young population in five municipal corporation areas - Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Sambalpur and Rourkela, where the positivity rate is more than 20 per cent. On delay in inoculation of the second dose of Covishield, he said, “As many as 17.04 lakh beneficiaries are due for the second dose across the State. The Centre has assured us to send around seven lakh more doses by May 15. We hope the stock arrives as per schedule so that people will not miss their shot,” he added.
Odisha has managed to save vaccines as it has minus 2.7 pc wastage. Technically, it is possible up to minus 10 pc as 11 doses are provided in a 10-dose vial. If the vaccinator correctly extracts each dose into the syringe, 11 persons can be vaccinated from a vial for 10 persons. In that way, the State has vaccinated additional 1,61,351 beneficiaries with negative wastage.