Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir government here on Friday said that “actual vaccination” of people in the age group of 18 – 45 years will not begin from May 1.
Significantly, the announcement by J&K’s Health Department came less than a week after UT’s Lt Governor Manoj Sinha had announced free of cost Covid-19 vaccination for all people between the 18-45 age group during the upcoming Phase -3 vaccination drive.
“While the registration for vaccination of eligibles persons in the age group 18-45 has been opened on COWIN, the actual vaccination will *not begin* from May 1, 2021,” said UT’s Health Department.
“It will begin from a date to be announced later once the vaccine supply is established,” it said.
“Vaccination will not be a walk in but only through pre-registration of slots,” it said, adding “no slots have been opened for booking a session”.
Please wait for the announcement of the vaccination start date for the 18-45 age group, it appealed, adding “18-45 age group persons are requested not to crowd vaccination centers without booking slots”.
“Please wait for the start date announcement,” it said, adding vaccination continues for the above 45 age group normally.
UT’s Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha had on April 24 announced that the UT government will provide free of cost Covid-19 vaccination for all people between the 18-45 age group during the upcoming Phase -3 vaccination drive.
The decision was taken during a high-level meeting, chaired by the Lt Governor, here at Raj Bhavan, wherein BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Arun Kumar Mehta, Financial Commissioner, Finance Department; Atal Dulloo, Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education; Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Lt Governor and Simrandeep Singh, Secretary to the Government, DMRR&R were present.
“In J&K, we are committed to provide corona virus vaccine free of cost to all the people above the age of 18 years. The government shall bear all the costs of vaccine procurement from the manufacturer”, the Lt Governor remarked.
The Lt Governor expressed gratitude to the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi for announcing a ‘liberalised’ vaccine policy, making all adults above 18 years of age eligible to get inoculated from May 1 and allowing state governments and private hospitals to purchase vaccines from manufacturers directly.
In line with the announcement, the J&K government will begin the next phase of the vaccination drive soon, where doses will be administered to the population falling under the age group of 18-45 years.
Pertinently, in the ongoing vaccination drive, doses are being administered to all citizens above the age of 45 years.
During the meeting, the Lt Governor impressed upon the concerned officers for preparing a comprehensive plan for the upcoming vaccination drive.
