Around 24k healthcare workers to be vaccinated in Odisha capital

Bhubaneswar: With the Coronavirus vaccination programme scheduled to begin from January 16 in the country, around 24,000 healthcare workers at 43 health centres will be vaccinated in first phase of the drive in Bhubaneswar.

The massive vaccination programme will be rolled out at five session sites in Bhubaneswar. The places included the Capital Hospital, Unit-4 Urban Community Health Centre, SUM Hospital, KIIMS Hospital and BMC Hospital. Only the hospital employees will be administered the COVID-19 vaccine in the first phase, informed Bhubaneswar Additional District Urban Public Health Officer (ADU-PHO) Dr CVSN Rao.

The first phase vaccination will be conducted at 43 medical institutions including medical colleges, 27 government vaccination centres and 16 private hospitals.

“The hospitals comprising more than 100 employees have been selected as the vaccination centres in Bhubaneswar. The details of healthcare workers shortlisted for getting vaccine have been uploaded on the COVID-19 website. As the COVID vaccination is not mandatory, the vaccine will be administered to health workers who want to take it,” Dr Rao said.

By order of the BMC Commissioner, the hospital employees will be vaccinated first following which the vaccine will be administered to frontline workers including BMC employees, sanitary workers and police personnel. Subsequently, the high risk group people above 60 years of age will be vaccinated in the city. The list will be uploaded on the website shortly, he said.

The Centre has approved two vaccines — Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield — for emergency use.

However, it is yet to be finalised on administration of particular COVID vaccine in the State. The vaccines will be sent to different vaccination centres in districts after it reach the State vaccination centre. Like Polio and DPT vaccines, the COVID vaccines will be preserved at the Capital Hospital at temperature between 2 to 8 degree Celsius in Bhubaneswar, Dr Rao added.

Also Read

Comments are closed.