State Health Director Bijay Panigrahi on Monday informed that people who have been administered the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine at private hospitals can take the second jab at Government hospitals across the State free of cost.
Notably, on Sunday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had announced that the Government would ensure vaccination of people aged above 18 years for free in the third phase of the immunisation drive starting from May 1. Panigrahi further informed that if a person contracts the virus even after being administered with the first jab, he or she can take the second dose after four weeks of complete recovery. Regarding availability of vaccines, he said that currently, the State has a stock of 2.05 lakh Covishield and 3.7 lakh Covaxin doses. The stock would exhaust in three to four days. On Monday, people were vaccinated at 540 centres. So far, total 55,50,380 people have been vaccinated in the State, he informed.
Panigrahi further said that the third-phase vaccination in the State depends on the quantity of vaccine doses the State would receive from the Centre. “Once the vaccines arrive, we will share further details regarding the third-phase vaccination, registration of which will begin on April 28. The State Government has placed order for procurement of both Covishield and Covaxin vaccines from the manufacturers,” he added.