Vaccines free for 18-44 age group, says CM
UP begins giving jabs to 18+ in seven districts
: Uttar Pradesh began the Covid-19 vaccination drive for people in the 18-44 age group in seven districts with chief minister Yogi Adityanath launching the programme from Veerangana Avantibai Hospital in the state capital.
At the launch, the chief minister said the state government had decided to vaccinate people aged between 18 and 44 years free of cost.
“We have decided to give free vaccines to people between 18-44 years of age. People above 45 years of age are being given free vaccine by the central government,” he added.
On April 20, the Uttar Pradesh cabinet had decided on free Covid-19 vaccination for those above 18 years of age among the poor even in private hospitals in the state. The vaccination in government hospitals is already free.
On Saturday, the chief minister also said the vaccine would be given to those above 18 years at 85 centres in seven districts for the next five days. Thereafter, the drive for those above 18 years will be launched in all the districts.
The seven districts — Lucknow, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Meerut, Gorakhpur, Bareilly, and Varanasi — have been chosen as they have a high active caseload.
In Lucknow, 2,704 beneficiaries took the Covid vaccine on Saturday and about 500 people did not turn up despite registering for it.
A total of 3,200 doses were arranged to start the drive in Lucknow where several enthusiastic youths reached vaccination centres as early as 9am.
Among those who took the vaccine in the state capital, 1,641 were male and 1,063
female. Only those who had done the pre-registration were given the doses.
“We vaccinated 255 beneficiaries between the age of 18 and 45,” said Dr SC Sundariyal, director of Civil Hospital.
The other vaccination centres in Lucknow for the 18-plus age group included King George’s Medical University, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, Sanjay Gandhi PGI, Lok Bandhu Raj Narain hospital, Rani Laxmibai Hospital, Jhalkaribai hospital, Avantibai hospital, Balrampur hospital and BRD hospital. Each vaccination centre was given 300 doses of Covaxin.
Also, the vaccination drive for people above 45 years is being organised at 2,500 centers across the state.
The chief minister said the state government was committed to zero wastage of the vaccines.
“The scientists of our country have provided us with ‘swadeshi’ vaccine. The state government is procuring Covid vaccines directly from the manufacturers to give jabs to people above 18 years,” he added.
The state government has decided to float global tenders to procure five crore vaccine doses and has already placed orders for one crore doses.
“The vaccination drive will be expedited across the state to protect the people from infection. The health workers are doing exemplary work in giving jabs. People should respect the health workers and corona warriors. Teamwork will help UP in fighting the pandemic,” he said.
Yogi called upon people to follow the Covid protocol — wear facemask and maintain social distancing after taking the jab.
“It has been observed that recovery from infection is fast among people who have taken the vaccine dose. At the vaccination centre, protocol has been implemented at the waiting areas and observation areas set up for the beneficiaries,” he said.
Earlier on Friday, the chief minister monitored the supply of doses to vaccination centres in seven districts.
State plane brings vials from Hyderabad
On his direction, the state plane was sent to Hyderabad to transport vials from Hyderabadbased Bharat Biotech International Limited that manufactures Covaxin. The vaccine doses were supplied to the vaccination centres in the seven districts, said a state government officer.
“The seven districts where the vaccination drive was launched for beneficiaries above 18 years included Lucknow, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Meerut, Gorakhpur, Bareilly, and Varanasi. Here, the active cases are high. Hence, we begin from these districts and more districts will get the benefit later,” said additional chief secretary (health and family welfare) Amit Mohan Prasad.
In Varanasi, the vaccination of beneficiaries above 18 years against Covid-19, began at 17 centres.
In Prayagraj, 2,410 individuals aged between 18 and 44 years were vaccinated against Covid-19 at 10 vaccinations centres in Prayagraj, on Saturday.
District nodal officer for Covid-19 vaccination RS Thakur said that 3,000 doses of Covaxin had been received by Prayagraj for the vaccination of individuals aged between 18 and 44.
In Meerut, 2450 beneficiaries turned up at 10 vaccination booths to receive the jabs. The overall vaccination percentage was 81.4.