Uttar Pradesh: Yogi Adityanath kicks off Covid vaccination drive for 15-18 age group

With the number of Covid cases rising every day all across India, the state of Uttar Pradesh government led by Yogi Adityanath on Monday started a vaccination drive for youth for the age group of 15 to 18 years.

Launching the drive, CM Yogi said that 1.40 crore youths in the age range of 15 to 18 years in the state would get vaccines in the given period. He said that those children getting vaccines would be given two days holiday from their schools. He directed the officials to ensure that each such youth get one additional holiday after the vaccine is being administered.

On Monday, the Chief Minister inspected the vaccination centre in Lucknow and issued directives to officials for a smooth drive. He informed that a total of 2,150 centres has been set up in the state for vaccinating youths in the age group of 15 to 18 years.

In Lucknow alone, 39 such centres have been set up. He said that till date, 12.84 crore people have been given the first dose of the covid vaccine while 7.40 crores have received both shots.

CM Yogi further said that Omicron infection spreads faster but it is not deadly compared to the variant found in the second wave of Covid. Only mild viral fever occurs during omicron but it should not be treated lightly.

"Till now, only eight omicron cases have been found in UP, and of those three have been treated fully," the CM added.

Meanwhile, on Monday, 572 fresh cases of Covid-19 were found in UP taking the total number of active cases to 2,261.