Over 20 mn beneficiaries fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in Odisha

More than two crore beneficiaries are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19 infection in Odisha, informed the Director of Health Services, Bijay Kumar Mohapatra on Wednesday.

Speaking to ANI, Mohapatra said, "COVID-19 vaccination program is successfully going on in our state. We have now administered over 4.92 crore doses of COVID vaccine to the beneficiaries here."

"Of these, more than two crore people are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 virus. We have set a target of vaccinating all the beneficiaries with both doses by January 15, 2022," he said.

In a bid to achieve this target by January 15, 2022, the Director of Health Services said that the state government has started house to house vaccination campaign.

He further said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi also announced three major decisions in the fight against the disease including the start of vaccination for children in the 15-18 age group from coming January 3.

"PM Modi also announced that the healthcare and frontline workers will be given a 'precaution dose' from January 10 next year and senior citizens facing co-morbidities will have the option to go for a "precaution dose" of COVID-19 on the advice of their doctors," he said.

Speaking about preparations for vaccination for Children, Mohapatra said, "We have dedicated COVID-19 vaccination centers for children. We have also set different timing for the vaccination of children in prevailing centers, that is, 8 am to 1 pm. They will be vaccinated by different teams."

"We have around a total of 25 lakh beneficiaries under the age group of 15 to 18 years. For now, we have set a target of vaccinating a minimum of 100 children per session and they will be inoculated with Covaxin," he added.

He informed that the registration for children's vaccination can be done either online on January 1 or onsite on January 3.