MARGAO
Day one of the Covid vaccination for 45 and above organized by the South Goa district authorities saw around 1164 persons taking the jab in the 18 panchayat areas of Salcete taluka on Monday.
Barring two places, women outnumbered men in the remaining 16 panchayat areas, indicating that they are more open to the vaccination than men.
District officials termed the turnout as moderate and hope more will take the jab in the next two days.
A glance at the statistics on day one revealed that the exercise held at the AIM school in Rumdamol village panchayat saw the highest turn out of persons to take the jab, around 142 persons to be precise, including 67 males and 75 females.
The two coastal villages of Benaulim and Colva also witnessed around 100 persons each visiting the designated centres to take the vaccine. While 110 persons, including 78 women, turned up in Benaulim village, 100 villagers took the jab in neighbouring Colva village.
Vaccination held at the St Xavier’s Church school, Velim, also saw a positive response from the villagers. Around 93 villagers, including 60 females, turned up to take the jab on Monday. The exercise will continue in the village on Tuesday as well.
The Balli Primary Health Centre saw 95 persons, including 63 females, turn up to take the jab on Monday.
Another village panchayat that saw a moderate turn out of people was Raia, where around 80 persons took the vaccine. Raia was followed by Verna, where around 77 persons took the jab.
When questioned, Salcete Mamlatdar Prataprao Gaonkar informed that the response to the village-wise vaccination may not have been good given that Monday was the first day. “We expect more people to turn up and avail the vaccine in the next two days,” he said.
While saying that the three-day exercise will certainly help in taking the vaccination exercise to the grassroots, officials, however, said the authorities ought to have resorted to better awareness to get the people out of their homes.
