Qaiser Dar
Bandipora 8 June (KNB): Marking its name in Vaccination history of India, 100% vaccination of all people above 18 years of age was completed in 57 villages of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district by Tuesday.
Earlier, Wayen village of the district made national headlines after becoming the first village in the Country to achieve 100% vaccination of all eligible persons.
Talking to news agency Kashmir News Bureau, Block Medical Officer Bandipora, Dr. Masrat Iqbal Wani said that a door to door survey was started, prioritising far flung areas of the district.
He said, “On top priority, a 16 member medical team, consisting of a Doctor, Health Educator, ANMs, ASHAs, Anganwadi workers, Sarpanchs and Block Level Officers, was constituted to complete the vaccination mission.”
“Weyan village is around 25 km from the medical headquarter and our team had to travel around 11 Km by foot as there is no road connectivity,” he said, adding that within just two days the team achieved 100% vaccination of people falling in the eligible criteria that is above 18 years of age.”
“The population of the village (Weyan) is around 710, out of which 362 people were vaccinated within 2 days,” he added.
The inhabitants of the village migrate for about 3 months along with their livestock to Gurez.
BMO Bandipora said, “Since the population of the village migrates for around 3 months, it would have been difficult to trace them afterwards, so the Medical team took the initiative as soon as possible and completed the vaccination mission on time.”
“Not only vaccinations but we also educated them about the novel coronavirus and conducted Covid-19 sampling as well,” he added.
In the recent past, rumours of death due to vaccines made rounds on social media; fascinatingly the same was known among the inhabitants of the village.
“At first the inhabitants of Weyan resisted, as they believed that taking vaccine jabs would kill them, but our Doctor, Health Educators and Sarpanchs handled the situation quite well. They made the people understand about the Covid-19 situation and afterwards the importance of taking the vaccine jabs,” Wani said.
He said that the medical team during the first visit to the village vaccinated only 6 people and after ten days the team reached the village again and were successful in completing the vaccination of 100% eligible population.
“We had to be patient and bring awareness among them. All the members of the team had to put in a lot of effort to achieve the milestone,” he emphasised.
The BMO Bandipora said that the drive was launched across all the villages of the district.
During the drive, “We have successfully vaccinated 100% of the population of above 18 years of age group in 57 villages, which lie in the far flung area of the district,” Dr. Masrat Wani told KNB.
The BMO Bandipora is looking forward to vaccinating all eligible persons in the district.
He said, “Now, within two or three days we shall hopefully achieve vaccination of all eligible persons of the district.”
Regarding the Covid-19 testing across the district, he said, “the population of Bandipora district is 3,50,000 out of which 2,00,670 tests have been done so far.”
There are around 39 villages yet to achieve 100% vaccination mark, regarding which the BMO said that the vaccination drive is going on and almost 80% eligible population has already been vaccinated as well.
About the problems faced by the Medical Team while achieving the feat, BMO said, “There were several constraints, the mission was challenging as several rumours, such as vaccination leads to death after 2 years and other complications as well, had clouded the minds of the people about taking the jabs.”
“But we had to motivate people throughout the district and the step that helped in eradicating these confusions and all false narratives about Covid Vaccine, was the major decision to visit the homes of people and talk to them,” he added.
BMO Masrat also expressed his gratitude to Deputy Commissioner Bandipora, Dr. Owais Ahmad (IAS).
He said, “It could not have been possible without the initiatives taken up by the DC Ahmad. Convergence of different departments along with NGOs, ICDS Anganwadi centres, Teachers and many more deserve the praise for achieving the vaccination milestone in Bandipora.”
Moreover, BMO advised the health officials of other districts of the Union Territory to initiate door-to-door surveys and vaccination.
“BMOs/ CMOs of other districts should launch the door to door survey and accordingly vaccinate the eligible population. They should look at this exercise just like the one conducted during Pulse Polio programme,”
He further requested people to wear masks and maintain social distance.
“Even though the lockdown has been partially lifted, people must realize that the only thing that can help us to reach the safe zone is to follow all the Standard Operating Procedures,” Dr. Masrat Iqbal Wani emphasised. (KNB)