Cumulative Covid vax coverage of UP crosses 30-crore landmark

Lucknow, March 31 : Striding towards another vaccine milestone, Uttar Pradesh became the first state in the country to have administered more than 30 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccine. This is another major landmark as the state continues to conduct one of the most successful vaccination campaigns in the country since the roll-out of the mass imm sation drive. As per data from CoWin portal updated till 2:00 pm on Thursday, at least 30 crore out of the total 184 crore doses administered in the country were from UP. Strengthening its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, the Uttar Pradesh government was providing vaccination cover to all children between 12 to 17 years of age in a time-bound manner. So far, over 2,05,03,327 children in the age group of 15-17 years and over 9,60,066 children in the age group of 12-14 years have been administered vaccine doses in the state. Committed to providing additional protection cover to the priority group, Uttar Pradesh started administering booster shots (precaution dose) to the frontline and healthcare workers, as well as senior citizens from January 10. Over 24.25 lakh ‘precaution doses’ have been administered in the state so far. UP is followed by Maharashtra with 16.13 crore doses administered so far. In terms of percentage, about 83 per cent of the adult population is fully vaccinated and over 100 per cent have received one vaccine dose. In the age category of 15-17, around 93 per cent of children have received at least one dose of the vaccine. To speed up the vaccination drive for children in the state, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has also asked the concerned officials to ensure adequate availability of vaccine doses in Uttar Pradesh. Aggressive Vaccination is an integral part of the comprehensive strategy of UP government to contain the pandemic, along with adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour. MB RJ