COVID-19 vaccine will be available in UP near Makar Sankranti: CM Adityanath

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said COVID-19 vaccine will be available in the state close to Hindu festival ‘Makar Sankranti’ which will be celebrated on January 14.

Speaking at a programme here, he said, "We initiated the campaign against COVID-19 in March 2020 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and at the beginning of this year we could say firmly that the dry run of the vaccine will be held on January 5 across the state and the vaccine will be available near around Makar Sankranti."

The chief minister added that a dry run of the vaccine is being held at some places in the state on Saturday.

Adityanath was speaking while laying the foundation stone of Advocate's Building at the collectorate campus here on Saturday.

On Friday, the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on COVID-19 of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) recommended granting permission for restricted emergency use of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine Covishield, being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, paving the way for the roll-out of the first COVID-19 shot in the country in the next few days. 

(IMAGE CREDITS:PTI)