With vaccine hesitancy fading amongst villagers, rural Uttar Pradesh records spike in COVID19 vaccinations
Almost two months back, vaccine hesitancy in rural Uttar Pradesh was regularly contributing to news headlines. But the situation on the ground has flipped and the state is now registering record vaccinations on a daily basis, especially in the rural areas. Details here.
Total 4,292 sites are conducting vaccination across the state. Photo: Gaon Connection
Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous state, has recorded a spike in COVID19 vaccination in rural areas as compared to its urban centres in the past three days. For instance, on September 8, 746,928 vaccine doses were administered in rural Uttar Pradesh compared to 245,809 doses in the urban areas of the state.
This gap continued to increase till yesterday (September 10) when more than a million (1,194,312) COVID19 vaccine doses were administered in the rural areas whereas nearly one-fourth (290,137) vaccinations were recorded in the cities.
This data was shared by CoWIN (Covid Vaccine Intelligence Work), a web portal for COVID19 vaccination registration which is operated by the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
According to the provided data, the highest number of vaccinations in rural UP was recorded on September 6 when more than two million (2,950,792) doses were administered while urban parts of the state witnessed 539,264 vaccinations on that day. The health ministry data also shows that 80 per cent of the daily vaccination targets are being met in Uttar Pradesh’s rural areas.
In total, 86 million doses of COVID19 vaccines have been administered in Uttar Pradesh and with more than three million vaccinations, Lucknow, the state capital, has recorded the highest number of vaccinations in the state.
It is to be noted that Uttar Pradesh is the only state across the country to record the highest gap in vaccination trend of rural and urban areas in the past three days, as per the data of CoWIN.
Of the total 4,292 sites conducting COVID19 vaccinations in the state, nearly 97 per cent are operated by the government.
Two months back, there were reports of vaccine hesitancy, myths, and misconceptions in rural Uttar Pradesh and the state government was working hard to quell it.
A Gaon Connection ground report from Barabanki and Unnao districts highlighted that villagers have been travelling long distances but despite making several trips, were not able to get vaccinated due to an alleged shortage.