100% Covid vaccination: Kashmir village is India's first to inoculate all adults
Another challenge the health workers faced was reaching out to all the 362 adult residents of the J-K village to vaccinate them against Covid-19.
A remote village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Bandipora district has become the first one in the country to vaccinate all its adult population against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Officials have said that vaccination in Weyan village was covered under the J&K model, a 10-point strategy to inoculate everyone who is eligible for the shots at a faster pace. The Union territory has achieved 70 per cent vaccination for those in the 45+ age group despite the initial vaccine hesitancy, almost double the national average, they added.
Officials have said healthcare workers faced a number of hurdles but worked hard to inoculate every adult in Weyan. "The village is located only 28 kilometres away from Bandipora district headquarters, but a distance of 18 kilometres has to be covered by foot as there is no motorable road,” an official of the health department was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
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Another challenge the health workers faced was reaching out to all the 362 adult residents of the village. An official said the village consists of nomadic families who go to higher reaches to graze their cattle.
"There is no internet access in the village. So it was not possible for the residents to get appointments for vaccination like the way people in urban areas do," Bashir Ahmed Khan, Bandipora’s chief medical officer, told PTI.
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Yatish Yadav, media advisor to Jammu and Kashmir government, said the Union territory was raising the bar in the Covid vaccination drive. "#JammuAndKashmirModel. And we thought up to now that Everest was the highest and toughest peak of Himalayas. But, some journey brings a new light, a new life. Team J&K raising the bar on vaccination drive," Yadav tweeted, according to PTI.
On Monday, Jammu and Kashmir recorded less than 1000 fresh Covid-19 cases for the first time in two months. This was for the first time since April 12 that Jammu and Kashmir recorded less than 1000 fresh daily cases of the coronavirus disease.
The Union territory registered 997 fresh Covid-19 cases and 16 fatalities which taken the number of infected people to 301,487 and death toll to 4090. The number of active cases has dropped to 23,524 in the Union territory and 273,853 patients have recovered so far, official data showed.
(With agency inputs)