PANAJI
After the State announced the opening of the vaccination drive for 18-44 age group from May 15, the Cowin website, which opened for bookings on Friday at 12 noon, had all slots booked within an hour.
Once in a while, a single slot here and there would open up probably after someone cancelled it. But that too would get booked within minutes. Realising the importance of vaccines to stay away from harm’s way, those in the 18-44 age group showed the urgency and enthusiasm to take the jab. The slots being limited, many could not get bookings on Friday.
It is learned, many did not mind booking a slot for the jab far away from home. A resident of Panaji booked a slot at Sakhali, which is around 32 kms from the capital city.
Those who were unable to book on Friday, will now have to wait for the next lot of vaccines to arrive in the State.
The vaccine Covishield is currently administered free of cost across Goa through 35 government centres. The Chief Minister has urged citizens to register themselves on the Cowin portal. The Goa government had received 32,870 doses of the Covishield vaccine from the Serum Institute of India.
Even as the vaccination will be opening for the 18-44 age group, the vaccination for those above 44 will go on simultaneously.
Sources said this may lead to shortage of doses and the vaccination centres will have to plan to handle people in an efficient manner.
The State government had ordered five lakh doses for those in the 18-44 group but the stock that arrived was only of 32,870 doses.
Earlier the State had announced the vaccination for this group from May 1, but since there was no stock available the campaign was postponed.
A private hospital in Goa has started vaccination for the 18-44 age group but the vaccine that is being administered is Covaxin of Bharat Biotech and is priced at Rs 1350 per dose. The slots for this vaccine too were fully booked on Friday.
