Jammu & Kashmir leads in Covid Vaccination

TNI Bureau:  With almost 67 percent of its people over the age of 45 previously vaccinated and three districts obtaining 100% coverage in this age group, Jammu and Kashmir is emerging as one of the country’s top regions in terms of Covid-19 vaccination.

While there was some vaccine hesitancy at first, officials in the J&K administration stated that micro-planning and involvement with authorities at the district and panchayat levels, as well as religious leaders, helped ramp up the vaccination drives across the state.

According to figures from the government of J&K, the union territory has fully vaccinated over 67 percent of its inhabitants over the age of 45 as of May 26, compared to a national average of 44.1 percent (according to Union health ministry data).

Jammu & Kashmir has a population of 1.4 crore, and the Covid-19 vaccine has been provided to 31,45,639 people thus far. On May 1, the total was 23,71,985, implying that nearly eight lakh doses had been administered in just 26 days.

Overall, the Jammu division has vaccinated 98.29% of those aged 45 and up, whereas the Kashmir division has vaccinated just 69.42%.

According to government officials, vaccination for the 18-44 age range, which was made available across the country on May 1, is now only being carried out in eight areas.

Officials have also linked their accomplishment to “micro-planning.” A decentralized strategy was used, with district administrations, panchayats, and tehsil level officers collaborating with the J&K administration.

In addition, in remote areas, mobile vaccination camps were established up. These mobile vaccination camps, according to officials, were especially helpful in border areas. Door-to-door surveys were conducted with the assistance of panchayat and booth-level election authorities to guarantee that no one was left behind.

Vaccinations in the Kashmir division were also suspended between 13 and 16 May, according to government statistics, although there were no similar interruptions in Jammu. Officials in Srinagar, the second-worst-performing district, blame the low vaccination rate on “inequitable distribution.”