Though the Centre had announced administration of booster doses for Covid from April 10 onward, no vaccines seem to be available at any private hospital in the state. Goa is almost 100% vaxxed with the active cases now down to 17 and a positivity rate of 0.8% , but this situation might deteriorate if the third dose is not available on time as the efficacy of the second shot does not exceed 7 months as per clinical data released in the public domain. Though 5 private hospitals have registered on the government portal they have not received any stocks till date. Goa cannot risk faltering at the home stretch but rather strive for blanket coverage of its entire eligible population. The govt should impress upon the vaccine manufacturers for immediate supply of doses, which given our small population should be easily manageable. At Rs 386 for the precaution dose, affordability should not be an issue, the government babus need to crack the whip on the errant firms who have more than enough surplus stocks for distribution but are simply dragging their feet.
