UP expands jab drive to 11 more districts

LUCKNOW: After successfully executing it in seven districts with high Covid caseload, the state government is set to expand the vaccination drive for 18-44 age group in 11 more districts — 17 of them comprising municipal corporations and Gautam Buddh Nagar — from Monday.
The districts where the vaccination will be carried out from Monday include Aligarh, Agra, Moradabad, Ayodhya, Saharanpur, Firozabad, Jhansi, Shahjahanpur, GB Nagar, Ghaziabad, Mathura, Lucknow, Kanpur, Meerut, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Bareilly and Prayagraj. For 45-plus group, the programme is being carried out in all the districts.
Giving impetus to the immunisation drive, 1.50 lakh Covaxin doses developed by Bharat Biotech landed at Lucknow airport on Sunday afternoon.
Additional chief secretary, medical and health, Amit Mohan Prasad said the state government has managed to administer 1,37,22,160 first dose — the highest in the country. Till date, 1,17,327 people in the age group of 18-44 have taken the shot. In order to implement zero wastage of vaccines, he said the registered people will be contacted. Public representatives, including MPs and MLAs, may also inspect vaccination centres to boost the morale of the people.
Post-Covid care centre in all dists The government has decided to set up a post-Covid care centre in all district hospitals from Tuesday. Additional chief secretary, medical and health, Amit Mohan Prasad said the decision to set up post-Covid care was driven by observations that many survivors faced other health issues. He said the Centre will have a physician, a physiotherapist and mental health specialist.