Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday became the first state in India to fully vaccinate more than four crore of its population. More than 10.32 crore people in the state have taken the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and it presently has less than a hundred active COVID-19 cases. 

Over the last few weeks, immunisation efforts have gained significant momentum in UP. Earlier in September, the Yogi Adityanath-led state had become the first in India to administer 10 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. Maharashtra comes in second, having administered a total of 10.46 vaccine doses. 

Data from the CoWIN dashboard at 4:00 pm on November 17 indicates that a total of 14,37,30,707 vaccine doses have been administered thus far. Most individuals have opted for Covishield, with a majority belonging to the 18-44 age group.

“Uttar Pradesh has become the first state in the country to provide complete protection cover with both doses of COVID-19 vaccine to more than four crore citizens. This achievement can be dedicated to the efficient guidance of the Prime Minister, the hard work of all health workers and all the citizens who got vaccinated,” tweeted Chief Minister Adityanath.

While Uttar Pradesh had made headlines on several occasions earlier this year for its initially sluggish vaccination efforts, the situation has changed greatly. Reports from earlier this month indicate that at least two out of every three eligible person in the state have taken at least one dose of vaccine. Door to door campaigning, outreach programs in rural areas are other initiatives have helped boost inoculation efforts. 

At the district level, Lucknow leads the charts with a cumulative 48.64 lakh vaccines administered. Prayagraj and Ghaziabad follow with 39.39 lakh and 35.44 lakh doses respectively. Data from the Health Ministry indicates that there are 99 active COVID-19 cases in the state. Till date, more than 16.87 lakh people have recovered from COVID-19, while 22,909 have died due to the deadly virus.