37% turnout in UP: Ballia, Kashi, Noida cold to vaccination, pull down graph

LUCKNOW: Turnout for Covid-19 vaccination plunged once again here on Monday with nearly two-thirds of the listed beneficiaries staying away from the exercise.
According to data from the CoWIN portal, only 97,131 of the 2,63,427 front line workers designated to take their vaccine took the jab. This translates into an achievement of 36.8%. In all, 1,980 planned sessions were held and both Covaxin and Covishield were given.
Though the data was being uploaded till late at night, state capital Lucknow, Saharanpur, Rampur, Gorakhpur and Maharajganj were among the best performers as per a status report released at 9 pm.
Ballia, Kushinagar, Gautam Budh Nagar, Bulandshahr and Varanasi figured among the bottom five.
Officials stated that the session on Monday was a mop up round for front line workers, but expressed disappointment over the poor turnout. They also said that the last chance for frontline workers to get themselves vaccinated was February 25. “The purpose of the exercise is to facilitate the listed beneficiaries who have missed their vaccine on account of genuine reason besides giving a fair chance to the remaining,” said a senior health officer.
Meanwhile, 85 new cases of Covid-19 were reported in the past 24 hours even as 87 recovered from the pandemic infection in the same duration. The total number of recovered to 5.91 lakh which speaks for a recovery rate of 98.12%.
However, health officials reiterated that adhering to prevention protocol was crucial in general interest as the cases were on the rise in some states.
“Though the cases are declining in UP and the vaccination programme is underway, complications caused by Covid-19 pandemic have taken a toll of 8,716 in the past one year. Therefore, till the required herd immunity is achieved, Covid-19 prevention protocol must be followed in individual and social interest,” advised a senior officer.