In 19 days, only 9% vaccinated, 15 days left for 24% more

Anantnag: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Friday set another deadline of June-end for the completion of Covid vaccination to people in the 45-plus age group, 19 days after the administration missed the first deadline set by him.
However, 23.94 percent of the population in this group is yet to be vaccinated in J&K and if the current pace is anything to go by, the administration is all set to miss the new deadline as well.
“Since they missed the first deadline on May 26, they have managed to vaccinate only 9.05 percent of the population in the 45-plus category,” a senior official privy to the data said.
The LG had on May 16 set a deadline of 10 days to achieve the target of 100 percent vaccination of people aged 45 and above. However, at the end of the deadline, 33 percent of this population was yet to be vaccinated.
In the next ten days, after the deadline was missed, only another 4.6 percent of the population was added to the vaccinated list, Kashmir Reader had reported on June 4.
“Ironically, the LG set the June end deadline on Friday and the very next day the number of jabs administered in this category went down by 57 percent,” the official said, informing that 15,505 jabs were given to 45-plus people on Friday, when the LG set the deadline, and on Saturday the number of vaccines administered went down to 6,590.
If this trend continues, the official said, deadline after deadline will be missed as it took 19 days to vaccinate only 9 percent of this section of the population.
“The question is, whether vaccinating another 24 percent in less than 15 days is achievable or is it yet another ‘government deadline’,” the official said.
The administration in Jammu and Kashmir, amid much pomp and show, recently declared that four of the districts had achieved the 100 percent target: Shopian and Ganderbal in Kashmir division and Jammu and Samba in Jammu division.
Days after the claim, data shows that the 45-plus population in Samba is yet to be fully vaccinated. According to the official data, only 99.2 percent of this section of the population has been vaccinated in Samba district.
Meanwhile, Srinagar and Kupwara districts in Kashmir division are the worst performers on this front. In Srinagar, only 50 percent of the 45-plus population has been vaccinated thus far.
“While in far-flung Kupwara district the numbers are even worse. Only 45 percent of the target has been achieved in Kupwara so far,” the official said. “I don’t think it can be done by the end of June,” he added.
State Immunisation Officer Dr Shahid Hussain said he hoped that the target will be achieved within the deadline.
“We have been making some good ground in Kupwara and Srinagar where we were lagging. Besides, overall as well, we have breached the 76 percent mark. I am hopeful,” Hussain told Kashmir Reader.
He, however, said that the availability of vaccines was a prerequisite to achieve the target in time.

Suhail A Shah