Srinagar: Nearly one-and-a-half month after the vaccination drive started, authorities have decided to conclude the Covid-19 vaccination for health care workers on February 25 while the facility for the front line workers will remain on for more time.
State Immunisation Officer Dr Qazi Haroon told Kashmir Reader that about 60 percent of healthcare workers have been vaccinated while the rest have not turned up despite there being more than 350 vaccine centres.
“They still have nine days after which the facility will be shut for them,” he added.
The administration started the vaccination process on January 16 for frontline workers. It is now planning to start the third phase in which the general population will be covered.
Qazi said that they will focus only on the population and frontline workers now onwards while the left out health care workers will be vaccinated after completion of all the phases.
“So they (healthcare workers) must come forward and get the vaccinated,” he said.
He also said that Jammu and Kashmir is the only place in India which has not reported any emergency post the vaccine shot.
So far the total number of positive cases in Jammu and Kashmir has been 125463, most of them from Kashmir. Out of this number, only 629 are active positive, while 122883 have recovered and 1951 have died; 725 in Jammu division and 1226 in Kashmir division.
Except Gurez, there is not even a single place where the process has been barred. At Gurez, he said, it was due to the bad weather that the process was halted. Otherwise everything required for the vaccine remains available there.
Two COVID-19 vaccines– indigenous Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and the Oxford-AstraZeneca & Serum Institute of India vaccine Covishield for emergency use are being administered in J&K.

Junaid Nabi Bazaz