PM Narendra Modi to virtually interact with healthworkers in Goa on Saturday

Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday said that the state government had vaccinated 102 percent of its eligible population with the first dose against Covid-19 and said that opposition parties that were questioning the state government’s claim were working against the interest of Goa.

On September 10, Sawant had announced that the state had administered the first dose of the vaccine against Covid-19 to 100 percent of its eligible population and congratulated the state’s doctors and health workers. Sawant said that the state government had vaccinated much more than the state’s adult population based on electoral data and projections of the Registrar General of India.

“Altogether there are 11.66 lakh persons eligible for vaccination in Goa. Till date, we have been vaccinated 11.88 lakh. We have in fact covered 102 per cent vaccination of the first dose,” Sawant said. He said that in addition to its population, the state government had also vaccinated tourists and foreign nationals.

The Chief Minister also said that 5.2 lakh persons had availed of the second vaccination dose in the state. And the state government aimed at completing the administration of the second dose to all the eligible people by October 31. He said that the state government will begin its Tika Utsav 3.2 on Thursday.

On Friday, 17,327 people were vaccinated in Goa of which 2,875 received their first dose.

A day after Sawant had announced 100 percent vaccine coverage of the first dose, Congress leaders Digambar Kamat, Girish Chodankar, Goa Forward Party president Vijai Sardesai and independent MLA Rohan Khaunte had called the government’s claim a lie.

Khaunte had questioned how 1,152 persons had taken the first dose of vaccination a day after the government claimed that 100 per cent administration of the first dose was achieved by the state government.

Naming the three opposition MLAs, Sawant had earlier said, “Instead of criticizing the government these politicians should encourage more and more people to get vaccinated and save their lives. Some people have made it a habit to politicize everything.”

Sawant, however, said that the vaccination was voluntary and not compulsory and if some people refused to take the vaccine, the state government cannot force them to take it. “If by mistake, any one has been left out of the first dose, they should also come and take it,” he appealed.