Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday announced that the state government had ordered 50 lakh doses each of Covishield and Covaxin (a total of one crore doses) for the free inoculation drive that will be launched from May 1 for all those above the age of 18 years. These vaccines would be in addition to what the central government was providing, he said at a Covid-19 review meeting.
“To ensure the availability of adequate doses in the state, the state government has ordered to procure 50 lakh doses of Covishield and Covaxin each from the manufacturing companies. The Covishield vaccine is manufactured by Serum Institute of India and Covaxin is manufactured by Bharat Biotech Limited. The one crore additional vaccines are other than what the central government has allocated UP,” a state government said.
The government statement quoted Dr RK Dhiman, director of Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), as saying, “We can avoid hospitalisation by getting vaccinated. Not only this, the death rate also decreases due to vaccination. In such a situation, it is very important for us to get the vaccination done”. Speaking from his personal experience, Dhiman said, “My wife and I had become Covid positive just three days before the Holi festival. But the infection was mild and did not have much effect on us.”