COVID-19: CM Yogi Adityanath reveals when vaccine will be available in Uttar Pradesh

In a significant development, Uttar Pradesh Chief Mnister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday (January 2) said that COVID-19 vaccine will be available in the state near ‘Makar Sankranti’ which will be celebrated on January 14.

"Dry run of COVID-19 vaccination is underway. On 5th January, dry run will be conducted across the state. I am confident that we will be able to bring vaccine around 'Makar Sankranti' and successfully defeat coronavirus," CM Yogi said this while laying the foundation stone of Advocate’s Building at the collectorate campus in Gorakhpur.

Earlier, CM Yogi had said that Uttar Pradesh is on course to defeat coronavirus through its collective efforts. He added that the World Health Organization (WHO) has also appreciated the efforts taken by different departments in order to control the spread of the coronavirus in the state.

“Two months ago, there were over 68,000 active cases of Covid-19 in UP, and now it has come down to 13,000 today. The recovery rate in UP is the best at 97 per cent, and death rate is around 1 per cent. Soon we will conquer this pandemic totally,” he said.

On Friday, the Subject Expert Committee of CDSCO recommended emergency use authorisation of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine while on Saturday the expert panel recommended that Bharat Biotech Covid-19 vaccine applicant Covaxin be approved for restricted emergency use in India. 

Meanwhile, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Saturday stated that the COVID-19 vaccine will be provided free of cost to everybody all across the country.

The minister told reporters during his visit at the Maternity & Child Welfare (MCW) Centre in Daryaganj while reviewing the dry run of administration of the COVID-19 vaccine.