J&K set to achieve 100% target in vaccination of its adult population

“We did it,” Director General of Family Welfare and Immunization Dr Saleem-ur-Rehman told The Indian Express. “We are on path to achieve our 100 per cent target. We are far ahead of the national average.”

On Sunday, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha congratulated the health workers for surpassing the two crore figure in administering Covid vaccine doses in J&K.

Of the 20 districts in J&K, 100 per cent of the adult population in 19 districts have got both doses of the vaccine, according to official records. The remote Kishtwar district in Jammu region is the only exception. “In Kishtwar, we have vaccinated almost 97 per cent of the population,” said Dr Saleem-ur-Rehman.

He attributed this success to the innovative strategy of the health workers in J&K. “Generally the vaccines are given in the health centres,” he said. “But here, we moved out of our comfort zones into their comfort zones. We went up into the mountains to reach the nomads to vaccinate them.”

Dr Saleem-ur-Rehman said although J&K stands second only to Himachal Pradesh, the size of the population to be vaccinated in the Union Territory was almost two times more than the hill state. “Out of the population of 1.44 crore [in J&K], we had a population of 93 lakh that was to be vaccinated,” he said.

He said flexibility also helped J&K achieve its target early. “For example, when our workers moved up in the mountains to vaccinate the nomadic population, they were flexible in terms of age groups that were supposed to be vaccinated because it was not easy to reach them again and again,” he said. “It definitely helped us in our objective.”