Goemkarponn Desk
PANAJI: Directorate of Health Services (DHS) has begun vaccination programme for special category groups of autorickshaw and taxi drivers, yellow and black motorcycle pilots, persons with disabilities (PwD) and seafarers.
“Priority will be given to parents of children who are below two years and co-morbid people in the 18-44 age group. In addition to this, autorickshaw and taxi drivers, yellow and black motorcycle pilots, persons with disabilities (PwD) and seafarers will also be given preference,” DHS State immunisation programme Chief Medical Officer Dr Rajendra Borkar said.
Borkar said these vaccination programmes will be conducted at 37 centres of the DHS across the State. If the need arises, more centres will be added.
As per reports, seafarers are permitted to board the ships only when they show proof of immunisation. Thus, the intervention will act to their benefit besides aiding the taxi drivers and bike pilots. Notably, lifeguards stationed at the beaches of Goa were already included in the drive for frontline workers and now, the range of recipients has been expanded further.
As per reports, in spite of multiple programs launched by the Goa government to boost the state’s vaccination schedules, the response from citizens has not been significant enough. Recently, the state had initiated Tika Utsav 2.0 to enhance the vaccination coverage amongst 45+ citizens but the turnout remained to be on the lower side. Due to this, the state has stocks of leftover doses, which will now be used for vaccinating the new beneficiaries.
