PANJIM: Falling short of the required target, the Goa government has initiated the process to procure two lakh doses of Covaxin – the anti COVID-19 vaccine – from Bharat Biotech, to inoculate adults in the age group of 18-44. The government is also going ahead with the global tendering for procurement of vaccine.
The government in a statement issued on Friday said that considering the target population of 6.5 lakh for the age group of 18-44 years, it had approved the initial procurement of five lakh doses of Covishield from Serum Institute of India (SII), out of which 32,870 doses were received in the first lot. “This first batch has been almost exhausted within a week,” the statement said.
The government said that another 36,580 doses have been allocated by SII for the entire month of June for vaccinating the same age group, which is not sufficient to meet the objective of vaccinating this target group expeditiously.
“As such, the government has also endeavoured to procure vaccines from other government approved manufacturers. The process of procuring two lakh doses of Covaxin from Bharat Biotech, Hyderabad has been initiated,” it said, adding that the process for global tendering for procuring vaccines has also been started.
Around 31,000 adults, between 18 and 44 have got their first dose of the vaccine.
The government said that it is awaiting guidelines for procurement of vaccines for children in the age group of 0-18 years, having an approximate population of 4.65 lakhs.