COVID vaccination of expectant mothers in Odisha soon: Top official

Bhubaneswar: As the Centre allowed COVID-19 vaccination of expectant mothers last week, Odisha Government will begin the same in the state soon, informed Director of Health Services Bijay Mohapatra today. 

On June 25, the Centre said pregnant women can and should be vaccinated.

“Vaccination is useful for pregnant women and should be given to them,” ICMR Chief Dr Balaram Bhargava had said.

Regarding the state Government’s fresh guidelines issued yesterday, Mohapatra said partial lockdown was extended in 10 districts (B-category) due to prevailing uncontrolled moment there.

“The virus is spreading in these districts, including Khordha, Cuttack and Puri due to their environment conducive to the virus. However, good thing is that few districts, which were earlier classified as Category B, have been shifted to Category-A,” said the health official.

“The Government relaxed lockdown restrictions prioritising people’s livelihood. The infection rate will decline if we all strictly follow COVID appreciate behaviour,” he added.

We are mainly focusing on three things: vaccination, contact tracing and surveillance. Hopefully, the number of cases will decline in mid of July.

Currently, 500 COVID patients are under ventilator support and 2000 undergoing treatment in ICUs. The number of casualties is likely to decrease gradually, he stated.