As many as 28% of the adult population who received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine have not turned up for the second dose after the stipulated time frame prompting the health authorities to ask the frontline workers to bring them to the vaccination centres.
Meanwhile Odisha today registered the highest daily COVID-19 vaccination in the last 24 hours with the health authorities administering 4.5 lakh doses to vaccine-eligible people, bettering the 21 September record of 4.16 doses, said officials of the health and family welfare department on Thursday.
With this 2.87 crore people in the State have received at least one dose of vaccine till date. Close to 67% of the State’s adult population have been administered the first dose. However what has become a matter of worry for us is that 28% of people whose second dose is due are not turning up to get inoculated, said Bijay Panigrahi, Director Family Welfare and nodal officer for vaccination drive in Odisha.
The prescribed gap between two doses of Covishield is 12 to 16 weeks while it is 28 to 42 days. In two cities of Bhubaneswar and Berhampur, Covaxin is being administered while in the remaining parts of the State, people are receiving covishield jibes, he said.
In Odisha, Covaxin is administered only in two major urban centres such as Bhubaneswar and Berhampur. Covishield is administered in the rest of the State.
The list of people who are yet to take the 2nd dose are being sent SMS messages in their registered mobile numbers to rush to the vaccination centres to receive the overdue jibes. The healthcare workers have been asked to visit them at their homes and convince them to get inoculated for the 2nd dose at the earliest; the senior health official said adding that the State has ramped up the daily vaccination to 4 lakh as there is adequate stock of vaccine doses.
As many as 2.10 crore people have become the recipients of the first dose of Covid vaccine, while 77 lakh people are fully vaccinated. While 67 per cent of the adult population has received the first dose, 72 per cent of the population has received the second dose.
The State accounts for 3.09 crore vaccine-eligible population of which around 25% is fully vaccinated as per the latest reports received from the health department.