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Odisha will vaccinate 192,555 healthworkers in the first phase to be conducted over two weeks starting January 16, 2021.
The state has 1,222 cold storage points across all its districts and 40 vans were deployed to carry the vaccines from the major storage houses in the state.
Frontline workers will not be covered during the first round. "We have selected 161 session sites with one trained vaccionator in each for the immunisation drive. A waiting room, vaccination room and observation room have also been set up at each site," said Dr Bijay Panigrahi, director of family welfare and state nodal immunisation officer.
The health officer said they did not face any glitch with the CoWin mobile application developed by the Centre for monitoring the delivery of the vials. "We trained doctors and frontline workers. So, they know what the clinical trial mode is under which Covaxin, manufactured by Bharat Biotech, will be administered," added Dr Panigrahi. No healthworker was forced to take vaccines, he said.
Nobody was reluctant to take the vaccines in the district headquarter hospital at Kendrapara, said Dr Anita Patnaik, chief district medical officer.