SHWETA KAMAT
shweta@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: In the absence of vaccine availability, States like Goa are currently in no position to immunize the eligible population. In Goa, the last vaccine shot was administered on November 26.
However, with three cases of Omicron sub-variant BF.7- the strain driving China’s current surge of Covid cases – been detected in India so far, the Centre has laid its focus back on vaccination.
Earlier, the poor response from the citizens had compelled the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) to hand over 32,000 Covaxin vaccines to Andhra Pradesh, 34,000 Corbevax vaccines were given to Telangana and 35,000 Covishield vaccines to Gujarat, since the vaccines were due for expiry.
In view of the sudden spike in Covid-19 cases in several countries, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya chaired a high-level meeting to review the prevailing situation in the country. Mandaviya urged people to follow Covid-appropriate behavior and get vaccinated against Covid-19. Emphasizing that the pandemic is not over yet, he asked officials to be fully geared up to challenge and step up surveillance.
Speaking to Herald, State Immunization Officer Dr Uttam Desai said that currently none of the States have any vaccine doses available.
“We gave our last shot of the vaccine on November 26. We tried to reach out to Karnataka, Maharashtra, requesting for vaccine doses. But there is no stock available anywhere,” he said.
As per the information, the State received 23, 61,120 doses of Covishield, one lakh doses of Corbevaz and 1, 74,200 doses of Covaxin from the Centre.
Desai said that the State is yet to receive any direct communication from the Centre over rolling out vaccination drive.
“Once the directions are issued, the vaccines will also be made available. We have all machinery and manpower ready to restart the programme at any point of time,” he said.
Urging people to wear masks in crowded places and follow Covid appropriate behavior, Desai said that the vaccination and booster shots can help prevent complications of the sub-variants.
“But we have seen that there was a lack of interest from the public in taking second shots or booster shots. We have to literally go house-to-house and immunize them,” he said.
According to the data provided by Desai, the first dose coverage of the population of above 18 years is 112 percent while second dose it is 103 per cent. In case of precautionary dose for those above 60 years, the coverage is only 52.77 per cent.
Further, 94.55 per cent of the population in the age group of 15 years to 17 years has taken the first shot of the vaccine while only 82.7 percent has taken the second shot. The first dose coverage among kids (12-14 years) is 69.08 percent while 54 percent have taken the second dose.
