SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir administration has said it will roll out the third phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive to cover people in the 18-45 age group from Saturday in a phased manner starting with the cities of Srinagar and Jammu.
This comes a day after the administration said the third phase of the inoculation drive will not begin in the union territory from May 1 as it was awaiting vaccine supply. Jammu and Kashmir will roll out the vaccination of the 18-45 age group against COVID-19 from May 1 in a phased manner beginning with Jammu and Srinagar, the Department of Information and Public Relations said on Twitter on Saturday.
“COVAXIN will be administered to this age group free of cost. It will be by *prior registration and prior appointment only.* Please do not crowd the vaccination centres without appointment,” it said. However, the CoWIN portal did not accept any registrations for the 18-45 age group or even for those above 45. Some people took to Twitter to complain about the shortage of vaccines in the union territory.
“Unfortunately, it’s only on paper. As for 45+, 2nd dose is not available, I just went to Nishat for 2nd dose, but it”s not available,” said a Twitter user Muzamil Khan following the administration’s announcement regarding the start of the third phase of the vaccination drive.
On Friday, Jammu and Kashmir recorded its biggest single-day jump of 3,532 COVID-19 cases and 30 fatalities that pushed its tally to 1,76,079 and death toll to 2,283, according to officials.
