Goemkarponn desk
PANAJI: With the current prevailing situation of over 3000 cases and several deaths reported everyday, one opines that vaccination of all is the best remedy to get resistance against the dreaded COVID19 pandemic.
Being a small State with a population around 15 lakhs, Goa can easily achieve the target of vaccinating all its citizens.
However, the hitch is that government has to make some extra efforts in doing so and also see to it that the vaccines are available.
With 15 lakhs population, Goa would need 30 lakh vaccines for a double dose.
But shockingly, only 6,000 to 8000 vaccinations are done on a given day.
“To get to the target of 30 lakhs at the current rate, Goa would need 18 months to get total population vaccinated with the two doses, which is a long time,” said an expert, who did not want to be named.
He said the vaccination rate has to improve.
“Simply vaccinating 6000 or 8000 will solve no purpose. We have target of 30 lakh and we have to maximise the number to atleast 20k vaccines a day. Even then we will take at least five months to complete the target,” he stated.
The doctor says with around three lakhs vaccinated in last three months, we have completed 10 per cent of vaccinations.
“There has to be awareness amongst people. Also people have to voluntarily come forward. The Tika Utsav was a good initiative but it has to remain apolitical,” he said.
On Thursday, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant appealed citizen to get vaccinated to fight COVID crisis.
He said that over 1.1 lakh doses available with state.
He informed that the state received 4.3 lakh doses of vaccination for three phases of which the department has vaccinated over 2.5 lakh people for first dose and over 68 thousand with the second dose.
CM also informed that state has over 1.1 lakh doses available with us for further vaccination.
“Our state received over 4.3 lakh doses of vaccination for three phases. We have vaccinated over 2.5 lakh people with the first dose and over 68 thousand with the second dose. We have over 1.1 lakh doses available with us for further vaccination,” said CM
“The world in general and our country in particular are passing through a critical period of health crisis. The Government health infrastructure and the society are trying to stand up to the challenge.
In a vast country like ours which has a dense population in many pockets, the virus spread was imminent. Though we passed through the first wave with little damage, the second wave is testing our capacity to the limit.” said Sawant
He said that efforts at fulfilling the demand for hospital beds, oxygen, medical equipment are done but there is a need to scale them further.
“Vaccine and Vaccination are an important part of the solution to COVID crisis. India was fortunate enough to have two home-made vaccines due to the efforts of the scientific community, pharmaceutical industry and because of the hand holding by the Union Govt. led by Hon. Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji.” he added
He further said that government have initiated three phases of vaccination till today. One for healthcare workers, second for frontline workers and third for 45+ population.
“Both the hospital staff and the population which got vaccinated deserve a big applause. The whole process has been well planned, well executed and people cooperated fully. On the clarion call of PM Shri Narendra Modi , the Tika Utsav vaccination camps were well planned and executed by our Government at the Village Panchayat level. This ensured that the vaccination programme reached the grass roots of Goa,” he added
He said that now it’s time for the fourth phase of vaccination for a large group of population. The centre has liberalized this phase for procurement and implementation plans due to the demand of several CMs in the last 3 months to give liberty in choosing vaccines and planning of vaccination.
“Now it’s the duty of our state to procure the vaccine and plan successful vaccination of the larger population. Both these will happen in stages. Vaccine manufacturing companies are in the process of expanding their capacities. Third vaccine is also getting introduced. Goa has placed an order of 5 lakh doses with the Serum Institute. Vaccination for the 18-45 age group will progress as and when we receive the doses.” CM said
Meanwhile, CM Sawant said that it is the responsibility of the Government and the larger population to make this phase of vaccination successful. We will plan the vaccination programme in detail, announce it in due time, so that slots will be available and people get vaccinated in a smooth and disciplined manner.
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