COVID inoculation drives for citizens aged 18-45 to begin in Goa from Saturday

Aligning with the COVID vaccination plan being implemented in various parts of the country, inoculation drives for citizens aged 18-45 will be executed in Goa from Saturday onward. Issuing relevant directives in this regard, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant stated that residents will be immunised free of cost at 35 government centres across the state. As of now, a total of 4,09,697 individuals have received the immunity booster jabs in Goa and the count is expected to inflate in the days to come.

State's attempt to 'defeat the menace of coronavirus'

Reportedly, the state government has received stocks of more than 32,000 vaccine doses from the Serum Institute of India. While these jabs will help in the latest inoculation schedules, vaccination of individuals over 45 will continue as well. Keeping this in view, the authorities are trying to make well-structured plans for the smooth immunisation of citizens across varied age groups.

Sharing the decision about the extended scope of vaccination, the CM urged all citizens to register on the CoWIN portal and get their slots booked. He further tweeted. "Let's work together to defeat the menace of coronavirus in the State." As per reports, the government had ordered 5 lakh doses but only a small fraction of it has been received till now.

Due to the unavailability of the vaccines, the inoculation for citizens between 18-45 could not begin, with the national launch on May 1. Though, it is noteworthy that two private medical entities were vaccinating people in this age group through privately procured Covaxin.

Spiralling COVID cases call for extensive vaccination schedules

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With 2,491 new COVID cases reported on Thursday, active tallies in Goa soared up to 32,953. While 2,226 recoveries were recorded on the same day, fatalities increased by 63. Given these figures, amplified inoculation drives are definitely the need of the hour if the objective of herd immunity needs to be materialised.

Out of the state's total population of more than 15 lakh citizens, reports state that over 2 lakh have been administered the first dose while nearly 90,000 are fully inoculated. Despite initiatives like Tika Utsav that envisioned large scale drives, the dearth of vaccines has been a hurdle in this regard.