JAMMU: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha today launched the COVID-19 vaccination drive for children aged 15-18 years in Jammu & Kashmir.
COVID-19 vaccination for the UT has been started from Government Higher Secondary School (Boys), Gandhi Nagar, Jammu with the inoculation of the dose to the children under 15-18 years age group.
Vaccination is a critical tool to help stop the Covid pandemic. My humble request to the young friends to get vaccinated, said the Lt Governor.
Don’t be complacent after getting vaccinated. It’s crucial to continue following COVID protocols & guidelines, he added.
The Lt Governor asked the health officials to keep the vaccinated children under mandatory observation period.
Referring to the high-level meeting chaired by him to review the COVID-19 status, Omicron and preparedness of health infrastructure here on Sunday, the Lt governor said the meeting was convened in the wake of increase in the cases of Omicron variant in the country.
“We are keeping our preparations ready. So far, we are saved from this (Omicron) threat,” he said, adding “our effort is to provide the best possible (medical) services to the people”.
As many as 822 vaccination sites have been set up across 20 districts for the vaccination of the children, officials said, appealing to the youngsters to come forward and get themselves vaccinated.
J&K Government has made all preparations for the smooth administering of Covid vaccine to the 15-18 age group. A robust action plan has been prepared for the vaccination drive starting from today.
The COVID-19 vaccination drive for the children in the 15-18 years age group will be carried out across the Union Territory. Online & walk-in registration, besides other required facilities are made at the vaccination centres.
“The government has made the vaccination very easy and we believe it will be a game changer for resuming offline classes. After vaccination, the students can attend their classes without any fear and we are expecting to resume the offline classes for students of 9-11 classes shortly,” he said.
School education department has also been asked to encourage the children to get vaccinated.
Amidst the surge in COVID cases and the new Omicron variant, the Government of India under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided the inclusion of 15 to 18 years age group in the National Covid Immunization programme from today.
Chander Mohan Gupta, Mayor JMC; Sh Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lt Governor; Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary; Dr Raghav Langer, Divisional Commissioner Jammu; ShAnshul Garg, Deputy Commissioner Jammu; senior health officials and students in large number were present during the launch of the vaccination drive.
