Health officials in Jammu and Kashmir have set a goal of vaccinating approximately 8.3 lakh children in the 15-17 age group for COVID-19 within 10 days. Official sources told that the COVID vaccination for the 15-17 age group will start from January 3, J&K health officials have developed a rock-solid strategy for the vaccination program.
They said the authorities calculated the number of children in the target group which is around 833,000 in the whole of UT, of whom 4,673,763 are in the Kashmir division and 3,657,237 in the UT division. from Jammu. Sources said the authorities’ goal is to complete the COVID vaccination of all children in the 15-17 age group within 10 days and to achieve this goal within a specified time frame, all necessary instructions have been given. to all concerned with Additional Chief Secretary Vivek Bhardwaj who held a meeting yesterday in this connection with DG Family Welfare, all Deputy Commissioners, MD NHM J&K, Director of Health Services Jammu / Kashmir, CMO, Deputy CMO in the presence of the Principal Secretary for Education, Bishwajit Kumar Singh.
The Department of Family Protection is mobilizing students for the COVID vaccination, as the authorities are also planning to open vaccination centers in schools to make it comfortable for the child to have them vaccinated at their preferred location ”, Sources said, adding that children will only receive the Covaxin vaccine as per guidelines issued by the Indian government and eligible children can either register online on the Co-Win app or go for the walk-in vaccination. you. Sources further informed that in light of yesterday’s meeting taken by the Additional Chief Secretary for Health and Medical Education, most of the deputy commissioners today called a meeting of senior officials. health and education to formulate the strategy to get all children in the specified age group to the vaccination sites so that the target can be reached on time. “The available stock of vaccines has already been sent to the hilly districts namely Kishtwar, Doda, Ramban, Reasi, Bandipora and Kupwara so that the vaccines can reach in time to the vaccination sites in these hard to reach areas”, sources claimed. They added that the relevant health authorities at J&K also informed the Center in advance of the requirement for COVID vaccines so that the vaccination schedule would not be affected due to a vaccine shortage. Regarding the COVID booster dose for the elderly (60 years and over) with co-morbidities, frontline workers (FLW) and healthcare workers (HCW), sources said that the process of administering a booster dose to these people will start from January 10.
He said the booster dose refers to the third dose of COVID vaccine for people who are fully vaccinated. The gap between the second and third dose of the COVID vaccine must be at least nine months, sources added. The Center has yet to agree to mix and match the vaccines in the third dose.