Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir administration Saturday rolled out the third phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive to cover people in the 18-45 age group by inoculating 204 persons of Jammu and Srinagar cities with first dose at the designated vaccination centres, an official press release informed.
This comes a day after the administration said the third phase of the inoculation drive will not begin in the union territory from May 01 as it was awaiting vaccine supply.
“Jammu and Kashmir will roll out the vaccination of the 18-45 age group against COVID-19 from May 1 in a phased manner beginning with Jammu and Srinagar,” the Department of Information and Public Relations said on Twitter on Saturday.
“COVAXIN will be administered to this age group free of cost. It will be by prior registration and prior appointment only. Please do not crowd the vaccination centres without appointment,” it said.
However, the CoWIN portal did not accept any registrations for the 18-45 age group or even for those above 45.
Some people took to Twitter to complain about the shortage of vaccines in the union territory.
“Unfortunately, it’s only on paper. As for 45+, 2nd dose is not available, I just went to Nishat for 2nd dose, but it’s not available,” said a Twitter user Muzamil Khan following the administration’s announcement regarding the start of the third phase of the vaccination drive.
On Saturday (today), Jammu and Kashmir recorded its biggest single-day jump of 3832 fresh COVID-19 cases while 47 people succumbed to the virus in last 24 hours, the highest ever number of infections as well as fatalities in a single day, officials said.
Meanwhile, Director National Health Mission informed that 23,71,985 persons of above 45 years age group have been vaccinated till date.
“With regard to this it is further emphasized that people must not flock to the vaccination centres without prior confirmation of their appointment on CoWin. All the district and divisional level control rooms are actively working round the clock.
“Further, tele-consultation is being made available for all citizens of Jammu and Kashmir and the ambulance services at call number 108 are working actively. Also, J&K administration has initiated mental health counseling services at designated numbers as advertised for each district”, Director informed.
