Night Jab Drive In J&K's Bandipora District Is A Big Hit

A night vaccination drive has been initiated by health workers in three remote villages of Bandipora in north Kashmir This has been done as the males here normally go out for grazing cattle during the day and return in the evening. The vaccination programme, according to Dr Masrat Iqbal, Block Medical Officer (BMO) Bandipora, is targeted at achieving a 100% immunisation rate area.

Owing to the fact that most males in these areas only return in the evening, three villages — Kudara, Sumlar, and Chandaji – have been picked for the 7-11 pm slot. "Instead of them coming to us, we chose to come to their doorway at night for their convenience," he explained. To be able to vaccinate the children, health personnel must walk many kilometers and remain overnight in these three villages.

The BMO stated that they would not have been able to vaccinate a substantial portion of the district's population if they hadn't started night vaccination. According to him, 370 individuals in the 45-plus age group were vaccinated during the night vaccination drive out of a total of 500. The remaining people will be vaccinated in the following days. Dr Iqbal said that the government is registering persons in the 18-45 age bracket for vaccination.

"After completing their registration, we will be vaccinating them too. About 1,000 villagers in the three villages fall in the category of the 18-45 age group," he added. Villagers have responded positively to the night vaccination effort, he added, because they do not have to travel to immunization centers, reported The New Indian Express.

According to him, locals were initially hesitant to get the jab due to rumors, but after good counseling and education, they decided to be vaccinated. The isolated Weyan hamlet in Bandipora district was the first community in India to vaccinate its whole adult population against the pandemic." It was all possible due to our door-to-door vaccination campaign," he said.

Healthcare workers in the state are going to extreme lengths to ensure that everyone gets vaccinated. Recently, a video of a team of healthcare workers wading through a river to carry out a COVID vaccination drive at a remote area in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district surfaced.

However, these problems could soon be a thing of the past as the Centre has invited an expression of interest from experienced Indian companies to deliver vaccines and drugs by drones at various locations in India.

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