New Delhi: Nearly 4,000 Army soldiers posted in Leh, Ladakh, will receive the Covid-19 vaccine Saturday as the inoculation drive kicks off across India. The eventual aim is to ensure that all troops posted on the northern front with China get vaccinated as soon as possible, ThePrint has learnt.
Sources in the defence and security establishment said the vaccine is being given in the Ladakh sector before any other location, and the first batch of vaccinations will be for soldiers deployed in Leh, not in forward locations along the Line of Actual Control.
“The soldiers at the front will remain where they are. To start with, about 4,000 soldiers posted in Leh will be given the vaccines. Priority will be given to the medical team and those who are scheduled for rotation,” a source explained.
“Those who are at forward locations are not going to climb down to take a vaccine and go back. They are in a zone where corona is not the main concern,” the source said.
A second source said this figure of 4,000 is very small compared to the several thousands posted in Ladakh, including those facing off with Chinese troops.
“The eventual plan is to ensure that all in the Ladakh sector get the vaccines but that will be done in time… There are not enough vaccines yet for even the frontline civil health workers. As the production increases, everyone in Ladakh will get vaccinated,” the second source said.
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No major outbreak in Ladakh
Covid-19 has been a major worry for the Army, especially in Ladakh, which is seeing a higher concentration of troops due to the stand-off with China that has been on since last May.
However, sources said there hasn’t been a major outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Ladakh, even though there were several cases among those coming in from leave elsewhere.
“Strict measures were put in place, which enabled us to ensure that there was no major breakout of Covid per se,” a third source said.
The first case of Covid-19 in the Army was reported in Leh on 18 March 2020 — in a 34-year-old jawan whose father had travelled to Iran.
As of September last year, nearly 20,000 military personnel had been infected, with the Army alone reporting over 16,000 cases.
So far, 32 Army soldiers have died due to Covid-19, while the respective numbers for the Air Force and Navy are three and zero.
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