Srinagar, March 30:
Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Tuesday said that only one percent of the population in Jammu and Kashmir has been vaccinated against COVID-19 so far leaving most of the people susceptible to the deadly virus.
Citing data by the union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, DAK President and influenza expert, Dr Nisar ul Hassan said that as on March 30, 2021, J&K has administered the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine to 6,34,953 people accounting to 5 percent of the 1.25 crore population.
Full vaccination of both doses has been given to 1, 42,895 people which represent 1 percent of the population,” he added.
Dr Nisar said there was a “need to vaccinate around 70 percent of the population to bring an end to the ongoing public health crisis”..
“When enough people are vaccinated, virus can’t find any host to survive, replicate and move on. This is how pandemic will subside,” he said.
“But with current vaccination rate, it will take years to a decade to reach the goal.”
Besides, Dr Nisar said that “vaccine hesitancy is a cause of major concern”.
He said people were “not coming forward for the vaccine”.
“Misinformation and wrong perceptions about the vaccine are keeping people away from the vaccine.”
Another reason why the goal can’t be achieved is because children who constitute a huge proportion of the population are not vaccinated, he added.
As per the DAK President there are around 4.8 million children in J&K who have not been vaccinated.
He said that in order to get back to normal, we need enough people to get vaccinated.
“The sooner we get more people vaccinated, the sooner we start reliving our lives,” he said.
(Courtesy Greater Kashmir)
