In compliance with the direction of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath regarding preparation of cold chain for the proposed COVID-19 vaccine by mid December, the state government has launched the process on a war footing.

A total of 26 districts, including Lucknow, Lakhimpur Kheri, Basti, Kanpur Dehat, Hathras, and Siddharthnagar, have already initiated the process to meet the set deadline as they have created sufficient facilities to set up a cold chain for the vaccine.

These districts have enough space for keeping ice-lined refrigerators with the capacity of 36,901 litres.

Arrangements in the other districts are being made in a phased manner and the entire exercise to build cold chain space with holding capacity of 1,23,205 litres will be completed by December 15 as per the direction of the chief minister, according to a senior Health department official.

Cold chain spaces are designed to keep the COVID-19 vaccine at the recommended temperature from the time of its manufacture until it reaches the target beneficiary.

It is assumed that the state may receive about four crore doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in the initial phases at the state/district/division and block levels.

Earlier, the Union Health Ministry had lauded Uttar Pradesh for its proactive role to combat the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“UP has led by example. The assessment is complete and construction has begun. It has already cleared the first steps towards the implementation of India’s biggest vaccination campaign. Other states on the other hand are wondering where to begin from, said an official of the Union Health Ministry.