Lucknow, Sep 23 (IANS): More than 65 lakh people in the 45 years plus age group, have not taken even their first dose of the Covid vaccine in Uttar Pradesh.

This is about 13 per cent of the total targeted population of 4.79 crores in this age group.

According to the government spokesman, the state task force on Covid vaccination has now drafted the strategy to vaccinate the people through a dedicated sub-campaign at the earliest.

This is crucial considering that people in this category have been described as 'vulnerable' and more than 85 per cent of the Covid deaths have taken place in this age bracket.

"The line-listing of these people is done. The data obtained has been uploaded and merged with the CoWin portal. A mobilisation strategy is set for launch while the training for the same is underway," the spokesman said.

He said that the district immunisation officers and support staff were briefed on Wednesday evening in this regard.

The campaign strategy banks on a cluster approach in which the target will be broken into small segments to simplify persuasion.

The district Covid control and command centres have also been asked to call up the persons and remind them of their due dose besides informing them about the risks of not getting vaccinated.

Random followup calls will also be made from the chief minister's helpline.

Meanwhile, the survey indicated that the number of unvaccinated 45 years plus persons was maximum in Saharanpur (2.25 lakh) while it was lowest in Gorakhpur (7,573).

In all, 28 districts had more than one lakh unvaccinated persons in the category, including Saharanpur (2.25 lakh), Sultanpur (2.14 lakh), Agra (2.10 lakh) and Prayagraj (2.05 lakh) where the number of such persons was more than two lakhs.

Also, in six districts, the number of such persons was more than 1.5 lakhs.