Kashmir: Health teams brave snowfall conditions to vaccinate teenagers

16,733 people have been vaccinated so far, the Health Dept officials said.

The vaccination drive for children last week and is going on at a large scale with teams of the Health Department conducting visits in education institutions under phase one and administering vaccines to the beneficiaries.

“There are some areas in the upper reaches where still one to two feet of snow is accumulated. This is the main challenge at this time.

"However, the vaccination teams are braving the hostile weather conditions to conduct visits in specified education institutions and administer the vaccine to the eligible persons,” officials said.

Block Medical Officer (BMO) at Kandi, Dr Iqbal Malik, told Greater Kashmir that more than 70 percent area of the Kandi medical block was under the snow which is a hurdle for the vaccination teams.

“We are achieving our targets daily despite hostile weather conditions,” he said.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Rajouri, Dr Anees Altaf Nabi, said the vaccination drive for age group of 15 - 18 years old was going on in a full swing.

The department had also started the process to administer booster doses to the health workers and frontline workers.

482 health workers having been given coronavirus booster doses besides the 167 frontline workers and six persons above 60 years of age with co-morbidity.