Call it vaccine hesitancy or lack of COVID appropriate behaviour, as many as 14.49 lakh people in Odisha have skipped the second dose of Covishield and Covaxin vaccine despite completing the mandatory inoculation duration between two doses. An estimated 23%, roughly one in every five persons who are administered the first dose have missed the second jibe for an unexplained reason.
The State has so far administered 2.07 crore vaccine doses including 1.58 crore inoculated for the first dose. Around 49 lakh have been vaccinated for the second dose. However, 14,49,983 have not turned up to receive the second dose even after the stipulated period, State health officials said here on Thursday.
The State’s capital city of Bhubaneswar has the lowest ratio of 8% missing the second dose while Malkangiri district accounts for 46% of people skipping the second dose. The Nabarangpur (43), Boudh and Deogarh (40%) also stay on the ‘inglorious’ list of people missing from 2nd dose of vaccine. In Bhubaneswar, 80,602 people inoculated for the first dose have missed the second dose of the vaccine.
“The Centre has allocated additional 9,92,380 doses of Covishield and 1,24,590 doses of Covaxin for August for special campaigns to vaccinate all those who have missed their second dose. The Government and private schoolteachers and their family members, who have not received the 1st\2nd dose of COVID-19 vaccine, will also be vaccinated during exclusive sessions at COVID Vaccination centres before 5 September. The District Education Officers have been asked to inform all schools to ensure timely vaccination of teachers and their family members”, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Pradipte Kumar Mohapatra stated in an official letter.