BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Friday wrote to the Centre not to discriminate between states in Covid vaccine supply.
In a letter to Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan, additional chief secretary (health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra mentioned that while some states were able to vaccinate three lakh people per day due to enough supply while Odisha is unable to plan properly due to insufficient and erratic supply.
“It is requested that there should not be any discrimination between states in the supply of vaccines,” Mohapatra wrote.
Pointing out that the heat waves conditions in Odisha will worsen in the coming days when vaccination per day may become less, Mohapatra wrote that the state is targeting to vaccinate two lakh citizens daily before the weather becomes more severe. “You are requested to supply at least 15 days vaccine requirement in advance to our state for uninterrupted vaccination drive,” he wrote.
Odisha has already vaccinated 21.67 lakh doses of the vaccines. These include the first dose administered to 17.78 lakh people and the second dose to 3.90 lakh. The state health department’s concern for vaccine shortage comes on a day the state received six lakh doses. It had received 3.70 lakh doses of Covishield on Tuesday. By now, the state has received a total of 34.70 lakh doses.
The government authorities said with such availability, it can’t plan two lakh vaccination per day, which was its target earlier. This is not for the first time that the state has pointed out a short supply of the vaccine.
The government on March 12 had sought an early supply of 10 lakh doses of Covishield by March 18. It had sent a reminder to the immunization division in the Union health ministry on March 17, this time asking for 25 lakh doses at the earliest.