Covid-19: Uttar Pradesh chief minister calls for increased vaccination drive for officials

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday instructed officials to increase the ongoing covid vaccination drive for children aged 12-14, saying many children in the group still could not take their jabs.

Reviewing the cowardly situation in the state, the chief minister said that vaccinating all eligible children was a priority of the government and asked the officials to ensure availability of vaccine.

“Many children between the ages of 12 and 14 have not yet been vaccinated.

They need to increase the vaccination drive. The state has adequate availability of the vaccine and this should also be ensured for future needs, ”he said.

He instructed authorities to conduct awareness campaigns on the importance of booster doses and encouraged everyone over the age of 18 to exercise caution, the statement said.

Uttar Pradesh has so far administered 32,10,86,485 vaccine doses.

Of these, 17,30,37,190 first doses, where 14,50,83,297 individuals were fully vaccinated, according to the data.

So far, more than 2,36,01,148 children aged 15-17 and more than 77,68,203 children aged 12-14 have been vaccinated in the state.

Committed to providing additional protection cover to priority groups, Uttar Pradesh has started conducting booster shots (warning doses) for frontline and healthcare workers as well as senior citizens from January 10.

The state has so far issued about 3 million ‘warning doses’, it said.

In percentage terms, more than 90.53 percent of the adult population has been fully vaccinated and 100 percent have received a vaccine dose, it says.

Between the ages of 15-17, more than 96 percent of children received at least one dose of the vaccine, with more than 70 percent of children of this age fully vaccinated.

Currently, the total number of active cases in the state is 1024, which has been steadily declining since last few days.

The Chief Minister has made the use of masks mandatory in public places of districts with high positive rates.