90% UPites to be jabbed by the time polls are held: Health dept

LUCKNOW : Health department officials on Tuesday assured the Election Commission that around 90% of UPites would be vaccinated when the assembly elections are held early next year.

During an important meeting of the health department and election commission to discuss vaccination before the assembly polls, deputy CMO Dr Milind Wardhan said vaccination will provide health security to the poll staff. The meeting also discussed the experiences of officials who performed duty in assembly elections of West Bengal, Bihar and ways to keep corona count in check during the UP polls.

Make O2 plants functional: CS

Another meeting of the state steering committee chaired by chief secretary Rajendra Kumar Tewari was held during the day.

The CS directed the district magistrates and CMOs to review the progress of vaccination every week.

He asked officials to mark the clusters where vaccination is not up to the mark and also directed officials to ensure vaccination of those who have taken the first shot but have not turned up for the second.

The chief secretary also directed officials to make oxygen plants functional which were constructed under the PM Cares Fund. “At the same time, work of training manpower to operate oxygen plants must be completed before September 30,” he added.

Till now, 7.87 crore people have received the first dose of vaccine, out of the 15.04 crore marked for vaccination while 1.70 crore received the second dose. The chief secretary was told by officials that more than 52% of people had been inoculated.