BHUBANESWAR: At a time when daily Covid cases and deaths are rising in Odisha, the reluctance of people for a booster dose has put health officials in a fix. With a whopping 87 per cent of people in the State yet to take a precautionary dose, the government has once again cautioned that the free vaccination scheme will only last till September 30 and the left-outs will have to pay to get their shots thereafter.
Odisha is among the top five states where a large population has not been administered booster doses. Campaigns like ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ launched to expedite Covid vaccination coverage by door-to-door visits have failed to achieve desired results as beneficiaries, including elderly persons, are turning down the appeals of vaccinators.
Expressing concern, the Director of Family Welfare and nodal officer of Covid vaccination Dr Bijay Panigrahi said 2.84 crore people in the State are yet to take booster shots. Of over 3.15 crore people, aged 18 years and above, only 43 lakh people have taken the precaution doses and most of them are frontline healthcare workers and senior citizens, he said.
Surprisingly, at least 10 pc age-appropriate people in six districts - Cuttack, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Sundargarh, Puri and Angul have not taken the first dose of the Covid vaccines. While the first dose average in the State is 96 pc, these six districts have achieved a coverage of less than 90 pc. The State has achieved 26 pc of the precaution dose target among senior citizens and only 8 pc of the 18-59 years age group.
Not only the precaution dose, but the second dose coverage in around eight districts is also low as 25 lakh people are yet to take their second jab. Since the Centre has reduced the gap between the second and precaution dose to six months, the State health officials are hopeful to cover the population in the next couple of months.
Meanwhile, the State reported 870 new cases and two deaths in the last 24 hours taking the active cases to 6,325 and the death toll in the fourth wave to 18. Sundargarh recorded the maximum 220 cases, followed by 140 from Khurda. The test positivity rate rose to 4.17 pc.