After getting its name recorded as one of the first villages in the country to vaccinate all the population in 18 years and above age group, the remote Vewan hamlet in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district has no COVID cases and all the eligible population stands vaccinated and sampled against the deadly virus.
With a minuscule adult population of 362, and situated high in the hills, surrounded by the snow-covered Himalayas, the village which is without an Internet facility is cut off with just a bumpy road leading to it. The hamlet is covered in knee-deep snow after a recent snowfall.
Motivated by the recognition after inoculating all its adult population last year, the health officials braved snowfall and harsh weather conditions to administer COVID vaccination doses to the 15-18 year age group, officials from the medical block told
The health teams this time though were aiming for a small target of 56 children in the village for inoculation, “but the strenuous task to trek uphill in the knee-deep snow was a challenge as the weather also remained inclement”, doctors monitoring the vaccination in the medical block said.
“On Tuesday five-member team, which included doctors and paramedical staff left for the inoculation drive to the cut off village and trekked some seven kilometres in the knee-deep snow to reach the village”, Wali Muhammad, a health worker with the team said.
“In three days, our medical team which had camped there vaccinated all the fifty-six children in the village and completed 100 per cent vaccination for the first dose,” Block Medical officer, Dr Masarat Iqbal Wani told the Greater Kashmir. On 3 January, the government kick-started vaccination for the 15-17 age group countrywide.
Iqbal claimed it was the first village to achieve the 100 per cent target in the country. The district authorities also stated on social media that Vewan has become the first village to inoculate all the children in the 15-17 year age group.
The semi-nomadic population was all home stuck and unable to move around due to heavy snow accumulation. “Our team stayed for two nights and three days in the village and went house to house to vaccinate the children,” Muhammad said.
Not only the vaccination, but the teams also made sure 100 per cent Rapid Antigen sampling of the population, “all of the population has reported negative,” Iqbal said.
Wali said, “our teams observed that with less moment and population largely being homebound the spread of the virus was contained, and the majority of the population was feeling well.”