Odisha: 3.02 lakh healthcare, anganwadi workers to get Covid vaccine in first phase

BHUBANESWAR: The state government has set a target to vaccinate 3.02 lakh healthcare and anganwadi workers against Covid-19 in the first phase whenever a vaccine is launched.
Additional chief secretary (health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said the government has already enrolled 2.95 lakh of the targeted group — around 98% —fed in online platform called Covid-19 Vaccination Beneficiary Management System. The registration of the intended group is being done by using their Aadhaar numbers.
Mohapatra said the healthcare professionals include those serving in both government and private sectors across 3683 healthcare facilities and more than 70,000 anganwadi centres. The highest around 27,000 have been enrolled in Cuttack district followed by 24,000 in Ganjam and 21000 in Khurda.
The district administrations have been asked to enrol the leftout people at the earliest. The priority list has been prepared as per the suggestion from Union Health Ministry. Enrolment of others will be done in phases the way the Centre would suggest, he said.
The Centre said the vaccination programmes will run over a year after the vaccine is launched with multiple groups being included sequentially starting from healthcare workers. People with comorbidities, those above 50 years and other frontline workers may be the next to get the vaccine.
While a steering committee led by the chief secretary will oversee the planning and implementation of various activities and ensure interdepartmental coordination, a task force led by the ACS-health will work on funding and operational guidelines for districts to implement the vaccination drive.
While different potential vaccines are in various stages of trial, the third phase trial of Covaxin, developed by ICMR and Bharat Biotech will commence soon in SUM hospital in Bhubaneswar among many other healthcare facilities in the country. The Oxford Covid vaccine may be ready by the end of this year, CEO of Serum Institute Adar Poonawala has earlier this week said.
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