Eye on third wave: Uttar Pradesh plans jabs for parents of kids under 10

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath made the announcement on Saturday during a visit to Saifai, the native village of Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav.

Amid apprehension that the third wave of Covid-19 will affect children more, the UP government plans to identify parents of children below 10 years and vaccinate them in a bid to provide a safety cover to every household.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath made the announcement on Saturday during a visit to Saifai, the native village of Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav.

Adityanath said vaccination coverage of judicial officers, journalists and their families would be extended to all districts and separate camps would be set up for the purpose. Presently, such camps have only been set up in Lucknow and Noida, he said.

He said that as part of its preparedness for a possible third wave, the state government is planning to identify parents of children below 10 years of age and vaccinate them. This is to provide a “suraksha kavach” to every family, he said.

Stating that vaccination of those between 18 and 44 years is going on in 23 highly affected districts and that the coverage will be increased in the coming days, Adityanath said, “We wish to increase vaccination by more than double by the next month to ensure maximum coverage. For the possible third wave, we have asked every medical college to set up a 100-bed paediatric ICU. More than 300 oxygen plants are either under construction or are proposed.

“This is so that every district could be self-dependent when it comes to oxygen supply.”

During an inspection visit to UP University of Medical Sciences in Saifai, the CM lashed out at the Opposition who questioned the efficacy of indigenous Covid vaccines, even labelling them as BJP or Modi vaccine, and are now advocating their use.

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