LUCKNOW: As India crossed the milestone of 100 crore Covid-19 doses, the share of UP, with 12.3 crore jabs, stood at more than 12%, which is highest in the country. Maharashtra, with over 9.3 crore doses and West Bengal with 6.9 crore doses are the next two states in terms of total inoculations.
In UP, 9.48 crore persons have taken the first dose while 2.83 crore are fully vaccinated. This means that 81% of the 15.04 crore eligible persons in UP have taken at least one dose while 18.4% are fully vaccinated.
Experts appreciated the enormity of the work undertaken in UP, especially in the light of factors like limited availability of vaccines, Union government's vaccination priority to high prevalence states like Maharashtra and Kerala in early stages and the scale of implementation challenge in UP.
"Credit for the achievement in Uttar Pradesh goes to its meticulous planning and strategy, exemplary political leadership and unparalleled commitment displayed by frontline workers," said Prof Manindra Agarwal, faculty at IIT Kanpur, who has studied the Covid-19 control measures in UP.
He also credited the people state for the success. "The efforts would have gone in vain had the people of the state not shown their trust in the system and shunned all kinds of negative propaganda against the vaccine."
In an interview with TOI in June, CM Yogi Adityanath had claimed UP would administer 10 crore doses in three months starting July. The state achieved the target on September 25. Also, in less than a month since the milestone, the state has been able to provide another 2 crore doses.
The government rolled out micro-plans covering key elements of awareness, mobilization, supportive supervision for registration, eliminating digital divide and taking the vaccination camps to villages instead of making people run to centers.
Health minister Jai Pratap Singh congratulated front line workers for the feat. "In many districts, health workers rose above odds to serve people," he said.
Meanwhile, 12 new cases and 14 recoveries were reported in the past 24 hours.
