Virendra Singh Rawat
Lucknow / Jan 18, 2021
Even as Uttar Pradesh topped the chart with maximum Covid vaccinations on Day One of the mega nationwide drive on Saturday (Jan 16), the state government is now preparing for the next phase of inoculation on January 22.
“We are preparing for the next phase of vaccination next Friday i.e. on January 22 and have the requisite vaccines available with us,” UP additional chief secretary, medical and health, Amit Mohan Prasad told the media here yesterday.
The list of people to be vaccinated is being prepared with the help of the Covid portal, which automatically sends SMS to beneficiaries mentioning the date and place of the vaccination.
On Saturday, 22,643 health workers, including doctors, were given the Covid jab at the 317 vaccination centres in UP. Women topped the gender tally in UP with 11,753 vaccinations or nearly 52 per cent followed by men with 10,890 vaccinations or 48 per cent.
With total inoculation of 22,643 health workers, UP topped the list with Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar figuring next in the national tally. Earlier, more than a million Covaxin and Covishield had already arrived in the state for the vaccination campaign.
Although, the UP government had earlier estimated to vaccinate 31,700 health workers on Day One, the final tally of 22,643 was tad lower than 72 per cent of the target. In due course, the vaccination drive would be held twice every week and the beneficiaries would be informed accordingly.
UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath had also visited a vaccination centre at Balrampur Hospital, Lucknow for taking the first hand stock of the drive. Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his dynamic leadership during the pandemic crisis, he also complemented Indian scientists for developing the Covid vaccines.
However, he cautioned against the naysayers and those allegedly spreading canards regarding the vaccination. “We have to remember that when the country was fighting a decisive battle against Covid, the vested interests were still indulging in their misinformation campaign.”
The CM claimed the two indigenous Covid vaccines were the cheapest in the world yet among the most successful ones. “These vaccines have set an important benchmark for us, and will take forward the ‘Made in India’ theme propagated by the Prime Minister,” he said and advised people to practice Covid protocols and patiently wait for their turns for the vaccination.
In the past weeks, the state had conducted three dry runs of the vaccination across UP to ensure the actual rollout was without any glitches.
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