BHUBANESWAR: With the vaccination drive for 15 to 18 year age-group commencing Monday, the State government has set up 939 special centres to facilitate smooth inoculation of teenagers.
Family Welfare Director and nodal officer for Covid vaccination Dr Bijay Panigrahi said all preparations have been made to ensure the drive is conducted in strict adherence to protocols.
“While 939 centres have been set up exclusively for the teenagers, they can also get their jabs at the 2,700 regular vaccination centres,” he said.
The CDMOs will monitor the vaccination drive at district-level, while principals have been asked to provide adequate space on campuses for inoculation and raise awareness among all students in this regard, Panigrahi said.
He added that the second dose vaccine will be given within 18 to 40 days of receiving the first dose. Students suffering from Covid-19 infection will be administered vaccine after a gap of three months.
He said that adequate stock of vaccines have been made available with the districts for vaccination. The teenagers will be administered Covaxin jab. The State currently has 23.45 lakh Covishield and 14.75 lakh Covaxin doses.
Panigrahi said the State has around 23.65 lakh eligible beneficiaries in the 15 to 18 year age. To make the vaccination process smooth, a meeting was also convened among officials of the Health and School and Mass Education departments.
Outgoing SME secretary Satyabrata Sahu who chaired the meeting has suggested that students of Class IX and XI will be vaccinated first as students of Standard X and XI will be appearing for the summative assessment tests from January 5.
Meanwhile, to make vaccination process smooth in the State Capital, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has set up 35 centres in the city.
Municipal Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Singh said vaccination facility will also be created in all high schools of the city.