PANJIM: Considering the limited shelf life and poor response to the precautionary dose, the Goa government might have to gift the vaccine doses, available with it, to its neighbouring States and extended neighbourhood.
Addressing media persons on Thursday, State Immunization Officer Dr Rajendra Borkar said that hardly 5 per cent, that is 48,463 of the total 9 lakh odd eligible people in the 18 to 59 age group have taken the precautionary dose, to date.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
“There is very poor response to the precautionary shot among the age group of 18-59 years. On average hardly 1,000 to 1,200 people take the precautionary dose per day,” Borkar said adding that vaccination is the only safeguard against Coronavirus.
He said that govt might have to gift the vaccines allotted to Goa to the neighbouring states if people don’t come forward to get vaccinated. “Given that the vaccines have limited shelf life, Goa might have to transfer the vaccines to the neighbouring states. Then we may have to wait to get the next lot of the vaccines,” he warned.
Borkar said that of the 3,957 COVID-19 deaths in Goa, 56 per cent had not taken a single dose of the vaccine.
