Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Government has sought 25 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine from the Centre for 'Teeka Utsav' between April 11 and April 14.

PK Mohapatra, Additional Chief Secretary to Odisha Government, Health & Family Welfare Department has written to Additional Secretary, Union Health Ministry in this regard.

"Covid vaccination in Odisha should be stepped up and we are prepared to undertake 3 lakh vaccinations daily. Unfortunately, due to extremely low supply of vaccines to our state, we had to close down two third of our vaccination centres. Several districts are now in a stock-out situation and are unable to continue the vaccination programme. This issue has been raised repeatedly with Union Health Ministry earlier but remains unaddressed," Mohapatra wrote in the letter.

"You are therefore requested to allocate at least 25 lakh doses of Covishield to Odisha immediately, to make the 'Teeka Utsav' more successful in our state and also improve the vaccination coverage in the entire state in coming days," Mohapatra urged.

Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had yesterday interacted with the Chief Ministers of various states regarding the COVID-19 situation via video conference and called for 'Teeka Utsav' (Vaccination Festival) between April 11 and April 14. Effort should be to vaccinate maximum number of people during the vaccination festival, the PM had said.