Uttar Pradesh: CM Yogi announces free COVID-19 vaccination for all adults from May 1

In a major announcement on Tuesday, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath declared that the COVID-19 vaccine will be administered free of cost to all adults in the state from May 1 onwards. This decision was taken in a Cabinet meeting on a day when the state reported 29,754 fresh cases and 162 deaths. This propelled the state's COVID-19 tally to 9,09,405 while 6,75,702 persons have recuperated from the disease. A total of 93,55,809 persons have been inoculated in India till now, 17,64,062 of them have received the second dose of the vaccine too. 

SC relief for UP government

On Monday, the Allahabad High Court directed the UP government to impose a lockdown in 5 cities till April 26 to break the chain of COVID-19 infection.  While mentioning that the restrictions will be applicable to Prayagraj, Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur and Gorakhpur from the night of April 19, the court advised the state government to impose a complete lockdown in Uttar Pradesh for a period of at least two weeks. The division bench of Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Ajit Kumar contended that the stricter novel coronavirus curbs would also ensure that the frontline healthcare workers get respite and can pay more attention to the patients who are already admitted. 

Blaming the government for not planning in advance for the second COVID-19 wave, the HC observed, "If popular government has its own political compulsions in not checking public movements during this pandemic, we can not remain mere passive spectators. Public health is the top most priority and call of the moment and any complacency of any degree today will cause havoc to people. We can’t shirk away from our constitutional duty to save innocent people from the pandemic which is spreading due to the negligence of a few." 

However, the UP government refused to follow this order putting emphasis on saving lives as well as livelihoods. In a statement, it stressed that measures such as night curfew, weekend lockdown, containment zones had already been undertaken to contain COVID-19 spread. Thereafter, the HC verdict was challenged before the Supreme Court earlier in the day. During the hearing, the UP government told the bench led by CJI SA Bobde that the order will create immense administrative difficulties. Staying this order, the SC appointed senior advocate PS Narasimha as amicus curiae to assist it in future hearings in this case.