UP govt to begin COVID-19 mass vaccination soon; leaves of health officials cancelled till January 31

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday said that it will launch the COVID-19 mass vaccination campaign across the state soon. The government has also cancelled all types of leaves of all officers and employees of the Medical and Health Department with immediate effect.

These include doctors, nurses, contract workers and daily wage workers. An order in this regard has been issued by Rakesh Dubey, Director-General of Medical, Health and Family Welfare, UP. According to the order, the leaves of all officers and employees of the Medical and Health Department have been cancelled till January 31 next year except this month.

Family Welfare Department of Uttar Pradesh cancels all leaves of officers and employees of the Directorate General, in view of "proposed COVID-19 vaccination in the months of December 2020 and January 2021, during which their cooperation is needed." pic.twitter.com/rrnRs6tq5R — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) December 16, 2020

Family Welfare Department further said that the leaves of officers and employees of the Directorate General has been cancelled in view of "proposed COVID-19 vaccination in the months of December 2020 and January 2021, during which their cooperation is needed."

All the officers and employees who are currently on leave have been directed to report back to duty at their respective offices from December 16.

In the first phase, frontline workers- doctors, paramedics, hospital staff including those from private as well will be given the vaccine. We have identified around 23,000 people for vaccination in the first phase in Gorakhpur, said Chief Medical Officer of Gorakhpur District Hospital Dr Shrikant Tiwari.

Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer India, Serum Institute of India (SII), and Bharat Biotech have already applied to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) seeking emergency use authorisation of their respective COVID vaccines. 

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the state has done well in terms of coronavirus management despite being the most populous state

"Despite being the most populous state, UP has given best results for Covid mgmt. Two months back the state had 68,000 active cases & now it's less than 18,000. UP is the state to conduct the highest number of tests, we have the lowest positivity rate & lowest mortality rate," news agency ANI quoted CM Adityanath as saying.

“Despite being the most populous state, UP has given best results for COVID mgmt. Two months back the state had 68,000 active cases & now it's less than 18,000. UP is the state to conduct the most number of tests, we have the lowest positivity rate & lowest mortality rate,” the UP CM said.

“If you compare this to Delhi - UP has a population of 24 crores and there have been 8,000 deaths. Delhi, with a population of 1.75 crores, recorded 10,000 deaths,” Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said.