Odisha CM demands COVID vaccination for 12-18 yr children

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to roll out COVID-19 vaccination of children aged between 12 and 18 years at the earliest.

Raising concern over the anticipated third wave and its impact on children, the CM said, “I would like to request that the vaccines for 12-18 age group may be prioritised and rolled out at the earliest.”

During the PM ‘s meeting with CMs of six states– Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala, Patnaik also sought 95 per cent vaccine allocation for the state.

“Odisha has been performing very well in vaccination and our wastage is among the lowest in the country. However, due to low presence of private hospitals in the state, lifting of the vaccines from the 25% quota has been less,” he added.

Reiterating the earlier communication with central government on the issue, he said, “We had written to the Centre to increase the allocation to the state Government to 95% and reduce the allocation to private hospitals to 5%. This will help us increase the pace of vaccination in the state.”