51,000 beneficiaries in 18-44 age group given jab in Uttar Pradesh

LUCKNOW: While 1.31 crore doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were given to people in the state in the past 24 hours, the number of young persons in the 18-44 age group receiving jab reached 51,000 on Thursday.
“UP is among the few states where vaccination programme for the 18-44 age group began on May 1,” said additional chief secretary, health and family welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad.
Prasad said vaccine was crucial to Covid-19 containment and urged all eligible persons to register for the vaccine. He told TOI that the state government was making arrangements to procure vaccines in large tranches so that every beneficiary receives the dose.
About the progress of the vaccination campaign in UP, he said: “A total 1.31 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been extended in Uttar Pradesh. This means that 1.06 crore persons have taken the first dose, while 25.74 lakh persons have taken both the doses.”
Data from the CoWin portal shows that 1.27 lakh persons took the vaccine till 7pm on Thursday. In terms of type of vaccine, 1.18 crore doses of Covishield have been given while the remaining are of Covaxin.
The agewise break up of Covid vaccine doses extended revealed that 44 lakh persons in the 60 plus age group have taken at least one dose while 49.2 lakh doses have been given to people in the 45 to 60 age group. As many as 8.59 lakh doses were doled out in the 30-45 age group. And in the 18-30 age bracket, 4.37 lakh doses of vaccine were given.
Officials have appealed to the public to shun their fear and take the jab as it was a strong defence against the pandemic virus. “While very few adverse events after immunisation have been reported, a negligible number of persons needed hospitalisation even after they contracted the infection in the second wave,” said a senior government doctor engaged in the vaccination process.