Jammu ramps up COVID vaccination drive, over 4.52 lakh people vaccinated so far

Jammu district has been rigorously vaccinating its residents against COVID-19. So far, 4,52,000 beneficiaries have been inoculated in various categories. As many as 3,65,000 beneficiaries above the age of 45 years have been given their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, said Jammu Deputy Commissioner Anshul Garg.

Speaking to ANI, the deputy commissioner said, "Our first aim was to cover everyone in the category of 45 years and above. So far, we have administered the first dose of the Covid vaccine to 3,65,000 people above the age of 45 years. The second doses are being continuously given at 30 vaccination sites." Meanwhile, the vaccination drive for people aged 18-44 years, which commenced on May 1 in the district, has inoculated 55,000 beneficiaries till now, said Garg.

"There is a two-pronged strategy for vaccination this group. People of this category have to pre-book their slots on the CoWIN portal, while a special high-risk group is also covered in this vaccination drive," he said. There was a priority list issued by the Jammu and Kashmir administration, in which high-risk vulnerable groups were prioritized, informed Garg. "People included in this category are shopkeepers, street vendors, people related with tourism and hotel industry, lawyers, journalists, specially-abled, orphans, widows, and government employees on Covid duties. For them, we have a special vaccination drive from May 25 to May 29 and 32,000 beneficiaries of this category have been administered with Covid vaccine," the deputy commissioner said.

According to Garg, as vaccine supplies will be augmented, additional vaccination sites will be set up to ramp up the process. Stressing on the effort to enhance the healthcare infrastructure, Garg said that oxygen generation plants with a capacity of 9,000 litres per minute have been made functional in the last one month in the Jammu district. "Additionally, hospitals in the rural areas are being upgraded," he said.

Locals have appreciated the administration for ramping up the vaccination process and also for easing out the Covid-induced restrictions in a phased manner. Riya Mahajan, a local resident of Jammu believes that the slots have significantly increased. "I got my first dose on May 2 and my second on June 2, exactly after four weeks, that is, within the time specified time period of taking the vaccine. A lot of people have been vaccinated in the district," she said.

Sumiksha, another local belonging to the area lauded the steps taken by the administration to bring the public back to normalcy. "Everything is happening properly now - the vaccination and testing. The decisions made by the administration are the best and in the public interest," she said. As per the media bulletin issued on Tuesday, 1,895 new cases were reported over a span of 24 hours, out of which 633 were from the Jammu division and 1,262 from the Kashmir division. Over a day, 32 deaths were reported - 17 from Jammu and 15 from the Kashmir division.