Odisha seeks 50,000 vaccines from the Centre as COVID-19 cases rise

The state does not have any vaccine left since February this year, Odisha director of family welfare Bijay Panigrahi wrote, and requested for at least 50,000 doses of CorBEvax vaccine with long expiry as early as possible.

PTI

April 11, 2023 / 21:46 IST

A person receives a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine (File image/ Reuters)

With more than 100 cases of coronavirus being reported in Odisha daily for four days now, the state government Tuesday requested the Centre for at least an additional 50,000 doses of vaccine in the first phase to cover people who have not received the booster dose yet, an official said.

The state director of family welfare Bijay Panigrahi, who is also its nodal officer for immunization, has in his letter to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare sought CorBEvax vaccine for Odisha.

"Presently there is a rise in Covid cases in Odisha. Also, there is a demand from the public for precaution dose vaccination at government facilities," Panigrahi said in the letter.

The state does not have any vaccine left since February this year, he wrote and requested for at least 50,000 doses of CorBEvax vaccine with long expiry as early as possible.

The state on Tuesday reported 141 fresh infections and the number of active cases in the state has increased to 731. It has been reporting more than 100 new cases daily for the fourth day on Tuesday.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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