With the shortage of Covishield vaccine, the State Government has decided to use Covaxin doses in the Chief Minister’s home district Ganjam.
In a letter to the Ganjam Collector and the Berhampur Municipal Commissioner, Additional Chief Secretary, Health, PK Mohapatra said the Government would introduce Covaxin in the district from July 5 for vaccination of 18 years and above citizens.
Covaxin would be supplied to the district for vaccination of those who have not received any Covid-19 vaccine. Covishield would be supplied only for thpse who have received the first dose and are waiting for the second one, he said.
Mohapatra asked the Collector and the Berhampur Commissioner to submit month-wise requirement of the Covishield. They were directed to conduct special sessions to vaccinate only second dose of Covishield.
Covishield and Covaxin are not interchangeable. Therefore, the officials were instructed to ensure that only one of the vaccines would be administered to a person.
At present, Covaxin is being administered only in Bhubaneswar and Covishield in all other places of the State.
The State is not getting the required amount of Covishield from the Centre while adequate allocation of Covaxin has been made for the State so far. The vaccination drive in Bhubaneswar is in a saturation mode and would come to an end soon.