Tika Utsav: Odisha to run out of COVID vaccine stock tomorrow; 900 centres closed

Bhubaneswar: Even as the country’s special four-day vaccination programme ‘Tika Utsav’ kicked off today to inoculate maximum number of eligible beneficiaries against COVID-19, the States like Odisha is running out of shots.

The shortage of vaccines still continued following which 900 session sites have been closed so far in the State.

“Currently, the vaccine shots are being administered at 579 centres in Odisha. As many as 900 centres have been shut due to ‘erratic’ and ‘insufficient’ stock.” informed State Health & Family Welfare Director BIjay Panigrahi today.

On Saturday, 1,13,563 beneficiaries have received the shots. So far, 42,97,032 persons have been vaccinated in the State.

Yesterday, 2.5 lakh Covishield vaccine had reached the State following which it was despatched to various districts.

“At present, total 3.1 lakh vaccines (2,33,658 doses of Covishield and 77,960 doses of Covaxin) are available with us. The stock will be exhausted tomorrow. If we will not receive more doses of vaccines, the inoculation programme will be disrupted,” Panigrahi said.

Earlier, many districts in Odisha had run out of vaccine stocks. Following repeated requests from the State Government, the Centre had sent 2.5 lakh doses of Covishield to the State.