Third phase of COVID vaccination: JK rolls out drive in phased manner at Jmu, Sgr
Srinagar: The third phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive to cover people in the 18-45 age group began in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday in a phased manner starting with the cities of Srinagar and Jammu.
Srinagar Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Aijaz Asad kick-started the vaccination drive for the people in the age group of 18-45 years 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 on Saturday.
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.
Earlier in the day, the Jammu and Kashmir administration said COVAXIN will be administered to the 18-45 age group free of cost.
“It will be by prior registration and prior appointment only. Please do not crowd the vaccination centres without appointment,” the Department of Information and Public Relations said on Twitter on Saturday.
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 vaccine arrived in the valley from Hyderabad on Saturday, 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.
Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday recorded its biggest single-day spike of 3,832 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 1,79,915, while a record 47 fatalities in the last 24 hours raised the toll to 2,330.
State Immunisation Officer Dr Shahid Hussain said that day one 140 persons in Jammu and 64 persons in Kashmir got Covaxin doses.
Pertinently, due to the shortage of the Covishield vaccine, government had decided to start largest vaccination drive from around May 20.
Dr Shahid said that “we are expecting Covishield vaccine for 18-45 years of age in between 15 to 20 May, however, yesterday late night we got intimation from Bharat Biotech a Hyderabad based company about Covaxin and during night invoices were prepared and on Saturday afternoon we received 1.5 lac doses of Covaxin, 75,000 doses for each division and accordingly the drive was started.”
He said that those who have taken the Covishield vaccine must take Covishield as a second dose and can take it at any Covishield site.
He further added that those among 18-45 years of age who want to take Covishield have to wait few days as our big consignment of Covishield is coming in next few days.
He said that they are going to ramp up the vaccination drive from tomorrow and there will be separate sites for Covaxin and Covishield.
He said that on Saturday 24,870 persons received Covishield doses in Jammu and Kashmir.
The State Immunization Officer said that so far 2,371,985 doses of Covishield vaccine have been administered in Jammu and Kashmir and among them 1,992,448 doses have been given as first dose and 379,537 as second dose.
Press Trust of India
