Uttar Pradesh becomes the first state in India to administer over 16 crore COVID jabs!

Counting over 16 crore COVID vaccinations as of Monday, Uttar Pradesh has stepped up to become the highest inoculating state in India. Noteworthily UP stands to be the most populous region in the country with the largest pool of eligible beneficiarie and about 76% of this segment has received at least a single corona dose. As per reports, about 33% of the total state population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Milestone victory for UP

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In just 10 and a half months of the pan-India vaccination drive, Uttar Pradesh has claimed the nationwide number one spot to administer the maximum number of COVID shots. According to a health bulletin, by Monday evening, the state had clocked in a total of 16,02,09,264 successful jabs, which includes 11,11,60,526 first doses and 4,90,48,738 as second shots. Reportedly, Maharashtra ranks second in the nation with over 11.20 crore vaccinations under its belt.

Omicron variant raises the need of vaccine defence

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Amit Mohan Prasad, the additional chief secretary of health, stated that the state administration is boosting its efforts in vaccination people in light of the newly emergent Omicron variant of the virus. For this, several teams of Asha and Anganwadi workers have been deployed across the state grassroots to run door-to-door campaigns and awareness drives across the state grass roots.

These teams are tasked to do away with any myths about the vaccine and educate people about its importance. The programme is expected to encourage people to reach out to rural and remote vaccination centres here to get their shot and help the state achieve its 100% coverage goal.

COVID mutation adds to the pandemic threat

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Besides vaccination, the administration has also amped up testing and screening across all entry points in the state, especially at the airports. The official pointed out that more than 12 countries have reported COVID cases of the new variant, sounding an alert in UP as well. All district administrations have been directed to be extremely cautious to prevent a virus invasion into the state.

As of COVID tallies, "There are 86 active cases in the state right now of which 67 are in home isolation," the ACS said. Around 5 fresh cases were reported in UP in the last 24 hours, with state capital Lucknow logging the maximum share of 2 cases. There are around 15 active COVID cases in the city as of now, detailed the official.