23,000 people identified for COVID vaccination in UP's Gorakhpur

Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh) [India], December 16 : Around 23,000 people including frontline workers have been identified for coronavirus vaccination in the first phase in Gorakhpur, said Chief Medical Officer of Gorakhpur District Hospital Dr Shrikant Tiwari.

"The government has conveyed to us that COVID-19 vaccine will be available by Jan or Feb. We have been asked to get ready. We have done three types of preparations. In the first phase, frontline workers- doctors, paramedics, hospital staff including those from private as well will be given the vaccine. We have identified around 23,000 people for vaccination in the first phase," Tiwari told ANI.

"A room is being built for storage of the vaccine. We have already received three deep freezers. The line listing has started for those people who will administer the vaccine to people. We are ready to start the vaccination drive as soon as the government issues orders in this regard," he added.

Earlier on December 11, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had claimed that while a vaccine against COVID-19 was just about a month away, the infectious virus had already been contained in the state.

"We are about a month away from the COVID-19 vaccine and the state has already contained the pandemic. Developed countries like the US registered a Covid-19 death rate of about 8 per cent, but Uttar Pradesh only saw 1.04 per cent of Covid-19 deaths," Adityanath had said.

Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer India, Serum Institute of India (SII), and Bharat Biotech have already applied to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) seeking emergency use authorisation of their respective COVID vaccines.