The super specialty Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Soura, Srinagar, has been linked to the nation-wide inauguration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first anti-Covid vaccination drive on Saturday.

Financial Commissioner Health and Medical Education Atal Dulloo said all necessary preparations have been made to administer the first dose of the much awaited vaccine Covishield at SKIMS which will be part of PM’s nation-wide programme to be inaugurated on Saturday. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha would be the chief guest from J&K.

Dulloo told IndiaNarrative.com that the first consignment of 1.46 lakh doses had been delivered in Srinagar and Jammu on Wednesday and placed in proper conditions at the medical stores. He said that the vaccination drive would be simultaneously launched at 28 locations in J&K. In the first phase, the vaccine would be administered to 1,06,000 health workers, including doctors, technicians and paramedical staff.

The second phase would target the Jammu and Kashmir Police and paramilitary forces besides officials of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC), the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC), the Revenue Department and some other departments and organisations of the union territory administration.

While Phase-3 of the vaccination programme would remain focused on the people of 50 years of age and above, all those under-50 and having some comorbidity would be covered in Phase-4. Dulloo said that the supplies would flow in regularly as per the demand and schedule of the programme even as 79,000 Covishield doses had been already received in Srinagar and 67,500 in Jammu.

“The second dose has to be administered 28 days after the first dose. However, the vaccine would be fully efficacious only 45 days after the first dose”, Dulloo said. He said that Covishield, created in an extensive research and foreign collaboration, had been manufactured in India by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII). It is the world's largest vaccine producer by number of doses produced.

“Covishield has been duly tested and certified by the Government of India and no adverse effects have been found”, Dulloo said, allaying fears in a section of the population that looks anxious about the vaccine’s contraindications. According to him it is fully safe and efficacious to the best satisfaction of the doctors and immunologists.

In India, Covishield has no cold chain issues as the vaccine needs temperature between 2 and 8 degree Celsius which is available with the entire transportation and storage network. Of the 680 cold chain points, 350 are ready in Kashmir alone. According to Dr Qazi Haroon, State Immunisation and Extended Programme Officer, some of the 28 centres would receive the consignments by helicopter on Thursday and Friday as several areas in Kashmir and Jammu’s Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts were still snowbound and inaccessible by road.

Until now, 1912 people have died because of Coronavirus in Jammu and Kashmir—1200 in Kashmir and 712 in Jammu. In all, 122764 persons contracted Covid-19 in J&K. Of them, 119170 recovered and 1912 died. As on Wednesday, 13 January evening, there were 1682 active positive patients in J&K—847 in Kashmir and 835 in Jammu. It was for the first time in the last 7 months, since 12 June 2020, that nobody was reported as dead out of Covid-19 anywhere in J&K on Wednesday 13 January..