By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, January 16, 2021: Odisha has announced a pause in the Covid-19 for a day on Sunday to observe those who received the vaccine on Saturday.

“We want to observe those who took the vaccine. From Monday, the vaccination drive will continue till all 3.28 lakh health workers are inoculated,” said Pradipta Mohapatra, the additional chief secretary (health).

The state has received 4.08 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine and 20,000 doses of Covaxin vaccine in the first lot

The immunization drive was conducted at 161 session sites in all 30 districts of the state on Saturday. The first vaccine shot in the state was administered to a sanitation worker, Biranchi Naik (51), of Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar at 11.05 am followed by the director of Capital Hospital, Dr Laxmidhar Sahu, an orthopaedic surgeon. A total of 16,100 healthcare workers were to be vaccinated on the first day.

Former AIIMS director and vice-chancellor of Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) University, Dr Ashok Mohapatra and current director of AIIMS Bhubaneswar, Dr Gitanajali Batmanbane, also received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine.

The state has received 4.08 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine and 20,000 doses of Covaxin vaccine in the first lot and has dispatched it to the cold chain points in the districts.

The government is targeting to complete the first dose of vaccination of 1.92 lakh healthcare workers within a week using the available vials.

Vaccination drive in India

As many as 1,65,714 people were vaccinated across the country on Saturday after India kickstarted its mega vaccination drive against novel coronavirus.

“Serum Institute of India produced Covishield was supplied to all States/UTs. Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin was supplied to 12 States. Total 3,351 sessions held across the country with both the vaccines,” the health ministry said.

It added that no case of post-vaccination hospitalisation has been reported during the day.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched the vaccination programme covering the entire length and breadth of the country and urged people to show patience during the Covid-19 immunisation drive as they had shown till now in fighting the pandemic.

Following that, hospital cleaning worker Manish Kumar became the first person in India to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

Kumar received his shot at Delhi’s premier All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), one of 3,006 vaccination centres established around the country.