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'Covid-19 vaccination drive on track': J-K DG family welfare tells HT
Nearly 1.24 lakh Covid-19 cases and 1,974 fatalities have been reported since the first case was detected in J&K last March.
With nearly 1.24 lakh Covid-19 cases and 1,974 deaths since the first case was detected in Jammu and Kashmir last March, the vaccination drive in the Union territory is right on track as over four lakh people have already received shots, J&K' Director-General Family Welfare, MCH and Immunisation, Dr Saleem ur Rehman told HT's Mir Ehsan in an interview.
Already 77 per cent of frontline workers have received the inoculation and more and more people are receiving the jabs with the opening of more centres in 20 districts of J&K, he added. Here are the excerpts from the interview.
Q: How many people have been vaccinated in J&K so far?
A: Till yesterday, 3,63,450 people have received their first dose of vaccination after J&K began the inoculation. Among the 10,0591 health care workers, 76,964 have received the first dose which is around 77 per cent and 28,732 have also received the second dose which amounts to 29 per cent. Of 2,76,559 Front Line Workers (FLW) 198,655 received the first dose which is 72 per cent and 22,060, which is 8 per cent, got the second dose. Among those comprising people over 60 years, so far 81,064 have received their jabs which is around 7 per cent.
Q: How is the response from people? Are people reluctant?
A: So far, the response from people have been good and in the coming days we are further going to step up the vaccination drive in J&K. We first started with 5,000 jabs then 6,000 and 10,000 and on the last working day on Saturday, we gave 43,000 vaccine shots to people. Even the percentage of the second dose is going up gradually. In the second dose, people have a choice if they want to get the shot after six, eight or twelve weeks. Many people want to get more immunity so they delay the second dose. Currently, we are getting an overwhelming response as people ask about the address of the vaccination centres.
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Q: How many centres have been established in J&K for vaccination?
A: We started with some 250 vaccination sites which have been increased to 350. Currently, we are running 772 sites across the UT. We increased the number of vaccination sites after we started giving jabs to people ageing 60 years and above. We don't want our senior citizens to face any sort of problems to locate these centres. We have even established centres at far off places in different regions.
The best thing about our vaccination drive is that our wastage is far less than the national average because of the hard work and the expertise of our staff. We have set up two control rooms in Jammu and Srinagar, besides, post immunisation control rooms to monitor any adverse effects in beneficiaries are at every place. We didn't have any major adverse case in J&K due to immunisation.
Q: Are people still afraid or reluctant to get the vaccination?
A: Whenever any new vaccination drive is started anywhere, initially people are always apprehensive. Here also people were afraid but once we launched this program, the senior J&K health officers and heads of medical institutions were first to get the vaccination, besides, we also launched a social media campaign which worked and our vaccination program is going nicely. Near about 4 lakh people have been vaccinated in our UT, not a single case of death was reported due to this, unfortunately, some people exaggerate things.
Q: Do we have a dearth of vaccines?
A: In the coming days or weeks, we will require more and more vaccines, the government has promised us adequate stocks as the number of people coming for the vaccination is going up day by day and we are definitely prepared to meet any target. We have an adequate supply of vaccines in all the districts. The centre has asked us not to stock any vaccine as there will be adequate supply coming to our sites.
Q: Do you think with an increase in vaccinations, the protection against the Covid-19 virus will go up in J&K?
A: Yes, its really going to help to bring down the numbers. This time also in J&K the disease is well under control but people and the officials have to be vigilant, especially about travellers. We should devise a mechanism that will help us to prevent the entry of new strains of the virus in the UT. So far, our health system and administration have remained successful in bringing down the numbers what it was three to four months ago.
Q: Are covid cases rising in J&K?
A: As of now, we don't have any evidence which will suggest that the cases are rising in the UT. We have increased testings which were already there. Even the hospitals meant for Covid-19 patients have vacant spaces. Still, we are keeping a close watch on the data daily, especially we have to do more testing on travellers to ensure that the new strains don't enter our place.
