Bring vaccine in open market says Odisha CM Patnaik in letter to PM Modi

Bhubaneswar, Apr 17: Odisha Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made four suggestions to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. According to news agency ANI, Patnaik said that the states and Centre need to align their forces and work together as a team.

"We are getting huge responses from people to get vaccinated. However, intermittent supply is creating a challenge in meeting the demand," ANI also reported.

The CM said that the COVID-19 vaccine should be made available in the open market so that citizens who can afford them can buy the shots on their own. He said that this will reduce the burden on the government all it to focus on the vulnerable sections of the society.

Patnaik further said that the vaccines that have been approved internationally by credible agencies should be cleared by the government for use. He also said that the vaccine production should be ramped up with the help of the Centre and state governments and India's potential in manufacturing vaccines should be utilised to the maximum.

He also said that the metro cities which add the most load in COVID-19 cases should be prioritised in the vaccination drive and there should be flexibility in the age criteria in these regions. He said that this would be important as the cities are the economic nerve centres of the country.