Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir seems to have been hit by vaccine hesitancy as only 24 percent of 1.4 lakh frontline workers have received the jab since the vaccination program started on January 16.
Disappointed by the developments, the Health Ministry has snubbed the Jammu and Kashmir health authorities over its slow CoVID vaccine coverage.
Health Ministry has asked the J&K authorities to get all healthcare workers vaccinated by February 25.
Officials told the Kashmir Review that only 32 frontline workers do come forward for the appointment out of 100 listed for taking the jab in each session.
The J&K Health authorities have shot a letter to all heads of the health institutions, saying, “Mop-up-round of healthcare workers, left out even after the scheduled date of February 20 should be completed latest by February 25.”
Earlier this week, Chief Medical Officer Doda, M Y Mir threatened the health officials of transferring them or ousting the contractual healthcare workers, if they don’t take the jab.
“As per instructions received from the Director Health Services Jammu, it is impressed upon all the officers working on a regular/contractual basis in the health department or NHM, and the ASHA workers to get vaccinated before February 10, 2021,” Mir said.
“Officers working on a regular basis who shall not opt for vaccination shall be considered for transfer with UT of J&K in April,” he said.
Mir threatened the National Health Mission (NHM) staff that refusal of vaccination can affect their extension in service.
He even threatened the ASHA workers to replace them and hold back their incentives.
“It is also impressed that it can also affect the extension of the NHM staff and replacement of ASHAs. The incentives to ASHAs shall not be paid as after second round everybody will be issued vaccination certificate which will be generated from the portal (CoWIN),” reads the circular issued by Mir.
Doctors Association Kashmir President Dr. Nisar ul Hassan said more than 80 percent of the healthcare workers – doctors, nurses, and paramedics – in Kashmir have refused to take the CoVID jab.
Hassan said, “The most frequent explanation for hesitancy is mistrust and misinformation.”
The COVID-19 vaccination program was launched in India on January 16 and the healthcare workers are the first to receive the jab.
While misinformation has been cited as the main reason for vaccine hesitancy in Kashmir, some say vaccine hesitancy is not new in Muslim communities.
“We saw the same issues during the Measles-Rubella vaccination program in Kashmir and other Muslim-dominated areas,” said a health official.
Jammu and Kashmir received 1,46,500 doses of the Covishield vaccine on January 13 from the serum Institute of India. Of them, 79,000 were allotted for Kashmir.
On Friday, 91 new cases of the infection were reported from Jammu and Kashmir, taking the total caseload to 125208.
