Finance
By: Shree1news, 21 OCT 2021
Odisha Government will start the process to vaccinate children aged between 2 and 18 years against COVID-19 from tomorrow, informed Health and Family Welfare Director Bijay Panigrahi here today.
Talking to mediapersons, Panigrahi mentioned the Centre will be impart training on the immunization to health officials on virtual mode tomorrow and the same will be passed on to officials at district-level. Apart from Covaxin, the children of the mentioned age group will be given Zydus Cadila’s needle-free Covid-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D and training on the same will also be given.
“The state Government is fully prepared. The vaccination drive will begin as per the guidelines as soon as the vaccines arrive and the Centre gives permission for the same,” he added.
The state has a population of 1.40 core in the age group of 2-18 years. However, the Centre is yet to clarify if everyone in the age group will be vaccinated, he added.
He further informed that the state has so far administered 3.48 crore vaccine doses.
“Currently, we have 24 lakh vaccines in stock. Around 24 lakh people haven’t yet taken the second dose even after their due date,” he added.
Earlier this month, Hyderabad-based pharma major Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin received emergency use approval for children within the age group of 2 to 18 years from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGA). The Subject Expert Committee on Covid-19 gave the approval for the emergency use in the children.
