COVID-19 surge: Odisha running out of vaccines, more than half of vaccination centres shut

COVID-19 vaccination in-charge in Odisha, Bijay Panigrahi on Friday informed that the state has shut some vaccination centres due to shortage of COVID-19 vaccines.

COVID-19 vaccination in-charge in Odisha, Bijay Pgrahi on Friday informed that the state has shut some vaccination centres due to shortage of COVID-19 vaccines.

"We are running short of vaccines. They are not adequate to run all 1500 vaccination sites across Odisha. Today, only 700 vaccination sites are open due to a shortage of vaccine doses in the state," Pgrahi told .

However, he also said that there are some Covaxin doses available in stock but it is only sufficient for the state's capital.

"2.4 lakh Covaxin doses are in stock and that's sufficient to deliver to the people in Bhubaneswar. Around 11-12 thousand people have been injected with Covaxin in a day in the capital," he said.

Moreover, Bijay Pgrahi informed that the state will receive three lakh doses of Covidshield vaccines on Friday.

He further said, "1,54,330 people above 45 years of age have received the vaccine at 1050 vaccination sites."

"In total, more than 48 lakh people, including front-line health workers have been vaccinated across the state," Pgrahi added.

India had started the COVID-19 vaccination drive on January 16 with two vaccines -- Covishield (Oxford-AstraZeneca's vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India) and Covaxin (manufactured by Bharat Biotech Limited).

India commenced its second phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive to inoculate people above 60 years and those over 45 with comorbidities against the coronavirus from March 1. The third phase began on April 1 for all above 45 years of age.

Recently, Russia's Sputnik V also got approval from the Subject expert committee (SEC) for Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA), making it the third Covid-19 vaccine to get clearance in India.

( With inputs from ANI )