All above 45 years to get COVID-19 vaccine from April 1 in Odisha

Odisha government on Thursday asked the district and municipal authorities to prepare for the COVID-19 vaccination of all people aged 45 years and above from April 1.

"Government of India, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) based on the recommendation of NEGVAC has expanded the prioritized age group to include all persons aged 45 years and above for COVID-19 vaccination from April 1, 2021. Accordingly, there will be no need for a co-morbidity certificate for people aged 45 to 59 years from April 1, 2021," the PK Mohapatra, Additional Chief Secretary to the Odisha Government.

The cut-off date for persons aged 45 years and above are those persons born before January 1, 1977.

"The COWIN Portal is being suitably modified by the Ministry of Health for doing away with the need for confirmation of co-morbidities at the time of online registration and on-site registration or for uploading the comorbidity certificate at the time of vaccination," he added.

The registration on COWIN will begin on April 1, 2021.

He further instructed all programme managers, vaccination teams to undertake necessary measures for expansion of the COVID-19 vaccination drive to include beneficiaries above 45 and above.

Meanwhile, Odisha on Thursday registered 214 new positive cases taking the total number of cases in the state to 3,39,460.

Odisha now has 1,079 active cases, which is 0.31 per cent of the caseload.

( With inputs from ANI )