Goa achieves 100% COVID-19 vaccination target

Goa has achieved the target of administering both the doses of anti-coronavirus vaccines to its entire 11.66 lakh eligible population above 18 years of age, a health official said on Wednesday.

Panaji: Goa has achieved the target of administering both the doses of anti-coronavirus vaccines to its entire 11.66 lakh eligible population above 18 years of age, a health official said on Wednesday. After achieving the target, the state Directorate of Health Services has decided to close down all its COVID-19 vaccination centres and integrate them into the normal immunisation programme, the official said.

"The state has registered 100 per cent vaccination of the second dose of anti-coronavirus vaccines. As the process has completed, the COVID-19 vaccination centres in the state will be shut and the exercise will be integrated into the normal immunisation programme," Dr Ira Almeida, director of Health Services, Goa, told reporters here. The COVID-19 vaccination exercise will continue, but it would now be in line with the schedule of normal immunisation programme, she said. The Goa government's decision to close down the vaccination centre comes 13 months after it began the extensive exercise of administering the vaccine doses to it citizens.

Dr Rajendra Borkar, state immunisation officer, said the target of vaccinating 11.66 lakh eligible beneficiaries has been completed. "But 100 per cent vaccination does not mean that people will stop coming to get anti-coronavirus vaccine doses as there could be some who were earlier out of the state and would get the jabs on return," he said. The officer said that the COVID-19 immunisation went on uninterrupted even on the days when the state witnessed its worst cyclone and torrential rains. "I congratulate all the team members who worked tirelessly to achieve this target," he said.

Earlier, the coastal state had achieved the target of completing the first dose vaccination process in September last year. At that time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had congratulated Goans on the achievement and said that the cent per cent vaccination of first dose has helped revival of tourism industry in the state. Goa had set the target of completing the process of vaccinating the second dose to its eligible population by December 19 last year. However, it could not achieve the target in the desired time-frame as it started gearing up for the February 14 Assembly polls, officials said.

State Health Minister Vishwajit Rane congratulated the staff on the achievement. "Hats off to the team at @DHS_Goa and @GoaGmc for completing the target of both doses of Covid vaccination for adults over the age of 18 years in the state of Goa. Their unwavering support and commitment to achieving our goal of 100 percent vaccination has been incredible," he said in a tweet. On Wednesday, the state recorded 118 new infection cases, while five people succumbed to the virus. A total of 3,782 samples were tested during the day, officials said.

Meanwhile, Goa BJP's medical cell chief, Dr Shekhar Salkar, on Wednesday demanded that all the schools should now reopen as the coronavirus situation in the state has improved. Salkar, who is also on the state experts' committee of COVID-19, said the closure of schools for a long time is affecting the studies of students. "The situation on COVID-19 front has come much under control and this is the right time for reopening of the schools," he said.

PTI