Bhubaneswar: Odisha Health Minister Naba Kishore Das today shot off a letter to Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan requesting him for urgent supply of Covishield vaccine doses to the state.

Das urged the Union Minister to allocate additional 6 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine for the month of June to ensure smooth management of vaccination drive in the state. He further requested that vaccine pre-positioning be done in advance so as to prevent any event of stock-out and help the administration plan sessions and mobilize beneficiaries in advance.

" As per allocation for June (2nd fortnight), we have received 13,78,310 doses of Covishield which has been distributed to all districts. As of today, we have stock of 3.38 lakh Covishield doses, which will exhaust in two days. There will be stock out of Covishield vaccine in the state from June 29 onwards, for which it will not be possible to conduct session in the state after that," Das mentioned in the letter.

He further highlighted, "Odisha has administered 1.14 crore vaccine doses since January 16, 2021 and maintained a negative wastage of 3 % with saving of 2.9 lakh doses. The sate is vaccinating three lakh citizens on an average since June 21 and it has the capacity to vaccinate 3.5 lakh beneficiaries per day."