Odisha To Prioritise Vaccinating 18-44 Year-Olds In Five Urban Centres With High Test Positivity Rate

Odisha Government has decided that the COVID-19 vaccination for the 18-44 years age group in the State will first be initiated only in five urban centres of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur and Behrampur which have been registering a high test positivity rate (TPR), reports Hindustan Times.

Of the five urban centres, Rourkela has a TPR of over 50 per cent and Behrampur has a TPR of over 15 per cent. Meanwhile, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Sambalpur have a TPR of about 25 per cent.

The State Government has decided to prioritise the urban centres with high TPR due to the low supply of vaccines at the time. It should be noted that as of yesterday, the State has received lakh doses of Covishield from the Serum Institute of India (SII).

As of now, the State has only been carrying out the vaccination of those in the age group of 18-44 years only in the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation area where a total of 42,660 people have received Covaxin shots since 1 May.

It should be noted that the State Government has already announced free of cost vaccination for all in the age group of 18-44 years at a proposed expenditure of Rs 2,000 crore.