Odisha CM urges Centre to ensure state has at least 10 days vaccine stock

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India] April 9 (ANI): Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has said that the state has requested the Centre to ensure at least 10 days stock of COVID-19 vaccines.
Patnaik took part in the meeting on COVID-19 situation which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The meeting was held through video conferencing.
The Chief Minister said the state is vaccinating 2.5 lakh persons every day and has the capability to increase it further.
According to an official release, Patnaik said the state has not been able to ramp up vaccination due to supply issues.
"Odisha has been doing well in the vaccination programme with among the lowest wastage in the country and an efficient system of administering the vaccine to eligible persons. We have not been able to ramp up the vaccination due to supply issues. We are currently able to vaccinate 2.5 lakh persons per day and have the capability to increase further. We request that at least 10 days' stock of the vaccines is ensured for Odisha", Patnaik said.
"The entire country has to put up a united front against this pandemic and we will continue to provide support in this fight," he added.
The Chief Minister said that under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) guidelines, Odisha was allowed to spend about 50 per cent of the annual allocation for COVID-related activities during the first wave of the spread in 2020-2021.
The state has requested the Union to continue similar guidelines for 2021-22 as well.
He said that during 2020-21, Odisha had requested for Rs 400 crores under Emergency Covid Response Plan (ECRP), but received only Rs 146 crores.
The Chief Minister said that in view of the new wave of COVID-19, at least Rs 300 crores be released to Odisha for 2021-22.
Odisha Health Minister Naba Kishore Das said on Thursday that the state has a stock of COVID-19 vaccine only for the next two days.
"Right now we have 5.34 lakh doses. We administer 2.5 lakh vaccines daily. So, our stock will last for two more days. We've written to the Centre to send us a minimum of 25 lakh vaccines for 10 days so that we can vaccinate properly," Das told ANI.
He added that the state has already seen the closure of 700 out of 1400 vaccination centres. (ANI)