Odisha writes to Centre on use of Covaxin

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha health minister Naba Kishore Das has written a letter to Union health minister Harsh Vardhan requesting him to utilize Covaxin supplied by the Centre for inoculation of beneficiaries belonging to the age group of 18-44 years on loan basis.
Covaxin is administered to the beneficiaries of Bhubaneswar, while Covishield is for other parts of the state. Capital city needs 3, 96,365 doses of Covaxin for healthcare workers, frontline workers and people of 45+ age group, while it requires 7, 92,730 doses for second dose vaccination.
Meanwhile, the state has already received 9, 86,780 Covaxin doses and it will get 1, 51,580 doses more in June. As a result 3, 45,550 doses of Covaxin will become surplus in the state.
The state government has already inoculated 1, 37,426 people belonging to the age group of 18-44 years since May 1. The state share of Covaxin (1, 65,940 doses) will be finished by the end of this month. A total of 1, 64,370 doses to be delivered to the state in June will be consumed for the second dose vaccination of this group and vaccination will be affected in June due to shortage of doses.
Das in the letter stated that the state has 5.17 lakh beneficiaries in the age group of 18-44 years. By this month end, vaccination of 1.65 lakh beneficiaries of this age group will be completed and the state will require 3.52 lakh doses to cover the first dose of this group. The surplus vaccines from the Centre’s quota can be used for vaccination of this age group, he added.
“There is a solution to this problem. We can utilise the surplus 3.45 lakh doses of Covaxin supplied by the Centre for the inoculation of 18-44 years age group on loan basis. After the state gets its share of vaccines, it will add those to the Centre’s share,” said Das in the letter.
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