Bhubaneswar: When people are eagerly waiting to get vaccinated, state’s Public Health director Niranjan Mishra Monday said there is no guarantee that COVID-19 vaccines will prevent infection completely. However, it will reduce the chances of developing severe infection and mortality, he said.
Speaking to reporters here, Mishra said there is no such guarantee that the vaccinated people won’t get infected with the coronavirus. People will have to follow the universal precautions which include wearing masks, sanitising hands and maintaining social distance even after receiving the shots, he suggested.
Two approved vaccines – Covaxin by Bharat Biotech and Covishield manufactured by Oxford-AstraZeneca – are being administered to people of Odisha, he said.
As many as 1, 42, 886 persons have been vaccinated at 1,084 centres across the state, Monday. The government has planned vaccination at 890 centres Tuesday. Till evening, there was a stock of 3,55,270 doses of Covishield and 2,10,170 doses of Covaxin in the state.
To contain the spread of the virus, the state government has opened temporary medical centres (TMCs) in some districts while instructions have been given to the district Collectors of those along the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border to open the TMCs as per requirement, Mishra added.
Camps have been set up at several places which have been engaged to collect samples for RT-PCR tests of the people at block level. The Health department is planning to increase the tests to 50,000 per day.
PNN