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The Goa government is planning to vaccinate its entire population in the age group of 15-18, i.e a total of 72,000 teenagers, against COVID-19 with the first dose in the next four, state Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said on Sunday.
"Goa has already received 72,000 doses to vaccinate the children between the age group of 15 to 18 years, which would be administered within 3-4 days from January 3 onwards," Rane told reporters. He said teams of medical professionals will visit schools if needed.
Rane, who attendeda meeting of Health Ministers of states chaired by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, said the union minister reviewed preparations for rolling out the vaccination drive
The state is taking all measures as per protocols to flatten the COVID-19 curve, Rane said. He further added that, Goa will set up a genome sequencing machine in the next 15 days to avoid delay in the testing of suspected Omicron variant samples, which are currently sent to the Pune-based NIV.
Goa's COVID-19 tally touched 1,81,182 on Saturday after 310 cases were detected, while the death toll remained unchanged at 3,522, an official said.
So far, 1,76,322 people have been discharged from hospitals, including 18 during the day, leaving the state with an active tally of 1,338, he said. With 4,959 samples being examined in the last 24 hours, the number of tests in Goa went up to 16,31,100, he added.
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