Over 50L Covid-19 shots given to 12-15 age group in Uttar Pradesh

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh on Thursday reached the milestone of administering over 50 lakh (5 million) Covid vaccine doses to children between 12 and 15 years of age.

Till now, 51,64,003 doses of the Covid vaccine had been given to beneficiaries between 12 and 15 years of age in the state, according to official data.

“This is another milestone as the state continues to conduct one of the most successful vaccination campaigns in the country since the rollout of the mass immunisation drive,” said a press statement from the state government. The Uttar Pradesh government is providing vaccination cover to all children between 12 and 18 years of age in a time-bound manner, said the statement. So far, over 2,24,75,498 vaccine doses have been given to those in the 15- 18 years age group.

A total of over 31 crore (31,35,25,300) doses of the Covid vaccine have been administered to beneficiaries (of all age groups) in the state, according to data from the CoWin portal.

Uttar Pradesh started administering booster shots (precaution doses) to frontline and healthcare workers, as well as senior citizens, from January 10.

Over 27.45 lakh precaution doses have been administered in the state so far.

“Vaccination is one of the most effective tools to curb the Covid infection spread and reduce its impact among those who got infected. All those eligible should take their due vaccine doses,” said Dr Abhishek Shukla, secretary general, Association of International Doctors.

“UP is followed by Maharashtra with 16.44 crore doses administered so far. About 84% of the adult population is fully vaccinated and over 100% have received one vaccine dose in UP,” said the press statement.

To speed up the vaccination drive for children in the state, chief minister Yogi Adityanath has also asked the officials concerned to ensure adequate availability of doses.