Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Health department said Wednesday it is awaiting the nod from the Centre for vaccination of kids aged 12 years and below against Covid19.
The chief of Directorate of Medical Education and Training (DMET), CBK Mohanty informed that no gudielines or approvals have so far been given by the Centre for vaccination of kids in this particular age group.
“Vaccination of persons in the 12-18 years segment will begin next month. However, till date there has been no information regarding vaccinations of kids in the 12 years and below category,” Mohanty informed.
“Once we get the guidelines for this segment, we can immediately start the process,” added the Health department official. The official also hinted that complete unlocking in Odisha will not be done abruptly, but in a phased manner.
“We are studying and analysing the pandemic and its effects on a daily basis. The test positivity rate (TPR) of various districts is also being taken into consideration. Keeping all these factors in mind, unlocking will start in Odisha in a staggered manner,” Mohanty pointed out.
“Sudden unlocking is not feasible keeping in the mind the threat of the third wave,” Mohanty stated. Mohanty also said that complete audit of pending Covid-19 deaths would be done in the next 10-15 days.
Audit is important for legal, medical and insurance related work, so we are doing it carefully. We expect to complete in the next 10-15 days the auditing of pending Covid deaths,” he informed.
PNN