140 receive 1st dose in Jammu
Govind Sharma
JAMMU/SRINAGAR, May 1: After a lot of confusion, the third phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive to cover people in the 18-45 age group began today in Jammu and Kashmir in a phased manner starting with the cities of Srinagar and Jammu.
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In Jammu, the administration has established five designated vaccination centres for the people of age group 18-45 years. However, the vaccination was started today only in one centre established at Scoutes and Guides State HQ Gandhi Nagar near Dussehra Ground, where the drive was kick started by Director General Family Welfare MCH & Immunization J&K Dr Saleem Ur Rehman in the presence of Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Jammu JP Singh.
CMO Jammu told Excelsior that they could not start vaccination at other four centres established at Cooperative Public School (Marble Market, Trikuta Nagar), Chanderbhaga Community Hall at Canal Road, Sharma Janj Ghar at Tali Morh (New Plot) and Government Middle School Domana as they received the delivery of vaccines very late at about 2.30 pm today.
He said both Srinagar and Jammu received 75000 jabs each of Covaxin for the vaccination of the people belonging to age group of 18-45 years. “Today, we could vaccinate only 140 people as we received the vaccines very late but tomorrow, this number will certainly increase upto five times when the vaccination will be started in all the five centres.”
In Srinagar, Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Aijaz Asad kick-started the vaccination drive at Shri Maharaj Hari Singh (SMHS) hospital here. Officials said 1.25 lakh new doses of the two vaccines — Covaxin and Covishield — reached the Valley today.
Asad said the eligible people must get themselves registered and that nobody will get the jab without registering for the vaccination. He said a total of 10 designated centres have been set up by the district administration for the people to be vaccinated. “The number of designated centres will be increased soon,” he added.
The Government has announced a free of cost vaccine for the people falling in the age group of 18-45. The first consignment of the Covaxin arrived in the Valley from Hyderabad today, the officials said.
They said 15 boxes having a total of 75,000 doses of Covaxin were received at the Srinagar Airport from the Hyderabad Airport in the morning. The officials said another consignment of 50,000 doses of Covishield vaccine from the Serum Institute of India, Pune also arrived at the Srinagar Airport.
Earlier in the day, Jammu and Kashmir administration announced start of the vaccination drive in a phased manner from Saturday in the Union Territory (UT). The announcement by the J&K administration comes a day after it had said that the COVID-19 vaccination drive for the age group of 18-45 years will not begin from Saturday in the Union Territory. The administration had said that the actual vaccination date will be announced once the vaccine supply is established.
“Jammu and Kashmir to rollout 18-45 vaccine from today in a phased manner, beginning with Jammu and Srinagar,” the Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR), Jammu & Kashmir, wrote on its official twitter handle. The administration said COVAXIN will be administered to the 18-45 age group free of cost. “It will be by prior registration and appointment only. Please do not crowd the vaccination centres without appointment,” the DIPR said on Twitter.
Asserting that the COVID-19 jab will be administered after prior registration, the DIPR further requested people not to crowd the vaccination centres without getting an appointment. “COVAXIN will be administered to this age group free of cost. It will be by prior registration and appointment only. Please do not crowd the vaccination centres without appointment,” it added.
However, people in the UT alleged that they are not able to get appointment on Co-win website for any vaccination centre, which has been made mandatory for getting a COVID-19 jab for this age group.
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