The third phase of the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination programme for people above 18 years of age began in seven worst-hit districts of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. Several who had pre-registered on the CoWin portal complained that the slots were not available.
Though the state had set a target of giving 20,000 doses to people between 18 and 44 years of age on the first day, the exact number of vaccinated people in this age group would be known on Monday, said Addition Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad. The state has 9 crore people in the 18-44 age group.
An official said that in Lucknow, 2,704 people who belonged to the 81-44 age group were given the vaccine. Besides Lucknow, Kanpur Nagar, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Meerut and Bareilly were the other districts that opened up vaccination for the third group. In the first two phases, frontline workers, people above 60 years of age and those above 45 years but with comorbidities were allowed to get vaccinated.