Naveen Patnaik seeks vaccine roll out for 12-18 years age group on priority | India News
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BHUBANESWAR: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday raised concerns over the anticipated third wave of Covid-19 and its impact on children. He asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to roll out vaccines for the 12-18 years age group as soon as possible.
In a video meeting of the PM with CMs of six states witnessing high new infections, Naveen said, “I would like to request that the vaccines for the age group- 12-18 years may be prioritised and rolled out at the earliest,” he said.
In the meet, Modi discussed the Covid situation with Naveen besides CMs of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra.
Naveen’s concern for children is based on the assumption that children may be affected more in a possible third wave as they are left unvaccinated since the ongoing inoculation targets those above 18 years.
Reiterating the state’s demand to change vaccine sharing formula between government and private hospitals from 75:25 to 95:5, Naveen asked the PM.
“In Odisha due to low presence of private hospitals, the lifting of the vaccines from the 25% quota has been less,” Naveen said. Referring to the earlier communication with the central government on the issue, Naveen said, “We had written to the Government of India to increase the allocation to the state government to 95% and reduce the allocation to private hospitals to 5%. This will help us in increasing the pace of vaccination in the state.”
While state’s health minister Naba Kishore Das had written to then Union health minister Harsh Vardhan, additional chief secretary (health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra had written to Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan to divert 20% private quota to the government.
While Odisha has been bracketed with states witnessing high new infections, Naveen said, “The covid-19 situation in Odisha has improved considerably in the last few weeks and currently the cases are there in a few coastal districts.”
Odisha’s active positive cases on Friday at more than 21000 is the sixth highest among states after Kerala (1.09 lakh), Maharashtra (1.07 lakh), Karnataka (32,000), Tamil Nadu (29,000) and Andhra Pradesh (25,000).
Health department data shows the bulk of the new infections in Odisha are mainly being reported from Khurda and Cuttack. Of the 2070 new infections reported on Friday, the two districts accounted for 765 (37%). The highest 446 were from Khurda followed by 319 from Cuttack. More than one-third of the active cases (7877 out of 21,745) are concentrated in these two districts.
While state’s overall test positivity rate has dropped below 4% for past around a week, it was 2.95% on Friday.
In a video meeting of the PM with CMs of six states witnessing high new infections, Naveen said, “I would like to request that the vaccines for the age group- 12-18 years may be prioritised and rolled out at the earliest,” he said.
In the meet, Modi discussed the Covid situation with Naveen besides CMs of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra.
Naveen’s concern for children is based on the assumption that children may be affected more in a possible third wave as they are left unvaccinated since the ongoing inoculation targets those above 18 years.
Reiterating the state’s demand to change vaccine sharing formula between government and private hospitals from 75:25 to 95:5, Naveen asked the PM.
“In Odisha due to low presence of private hospitals, the lifting of the vaccines from the 25% quota has been less,” Naveen said. Referring to the earlier communication with the central government on the issue, Naveen said, “We had written to the Government of India to increase the allocation to the state government to 95% and reduce the allocation to private hospitals to 5%. This will help us in increasing the pace of vaccination in the state.”
While state’s health minister Naba Kishore Das had written to then Union health minister Harsh Vardhan, additional chief secretary (health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra had written to Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan to divert 20% private quota to the government.
While Odisha has been bracketed with states witnessing high new infections, Naveen said, “The covid-19 situation in Odisha has improved considerably in the last few weeks and currently the cases are there in a few coastal districts.”
Odisha’s active positive cases on Friday at more than 21000 is the sixth highest among states after Kerala (1.09 lakh), Maharashtra (1.07 lakh), Karnataka (32,000), Tamil Nadu (29,000) and Andhra Pradesh (25,000).
Health department data shows the bulk of the new infections in Odisha are mainly being reported from Khurda and Cuttack. Of the 2070 new infections reported on Friday, the two districts accounted for 765 (37%). The highest 446 were from Khurda followed by 319 from Cuttack. More than one-third of the active cases (7877 out of 21,745) are concentrated in these two districts.
While state’s overall test positivity rate has dropped below 4% for past around a week, it was 2.95% on Friday.
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