PANAJI
Despite a devastating second wave and a predicted third wave Chief Minister Pramod Sawant still does not have a plan to ensure all Goans are vaccinated in time. With only 15 lakh Goans it should not have taken the Sawant government more than a month to achieve 100% vaccination. However, it seems Goans are being left at the mercy of the BJP high command once again. To add insult to injury vaccinations of the 18-44 age group have again been stopped as have those above 45 years, despite instructions from MoHFW that such appointments must be honoured, said the Aam Aadmi Party.
"It is shocking that the government is procuring only 35,000 vaccines at a time and opening limited slots daily to hide its failures. At this rate, it will take more than a year to vaccinate Goans. The third wave will come and take more lives by then,” said AAP Goa convenor Rahul Mhambre.
It is important to note that the second wave has impacted a lot of young people and predictions state that the third wave will impact children as well. 16,246 children and youth below the age of 17 were infected by Covid, which is around 11.34% of total positive cases, said AAP.
While it would be easy for the state to vaccinate all its population this would require the Sawant government to acquire the requisite number of vaccines. But the government has not released details of any global tenders nor has there been any attempt to reach out to the Centre as this would highlight that a BJP government is failing, said AAP.
It may be noted that CM Sawant has always been reticent to ask for aid for the Goa government to avoid embarrassing the party high command, the party said.
"What is CM Sawant’s plan? Has he floated a global tender? Has he taken any proactive steps?" asked Mhambre. "Or is he again leaving Goans at the mercy of his BJP high command as usual?" he added.
