Panaji, Jan 14 (IANS): Sanitation workers who have been part of the state Health Department's Covid-19 teams will be the first recipients of the Covid-19 vaccine, when the drive begins on January 16 this year, dean of the Goa Medical College, the state's apex healthcare facility Dr. Shivanand Bandekar has said.

"The first vaccines will be administered to safai karmacharis. These are people who have also been at the forefront, handling Covid-19 patients' soiled clothes, clearing their food trays, etc," Bandekar said on Thursday.

"We will also administer the vaccine to doctors who work in Covid-19 areas in the first phase," the top official said.

On Wednesday, a consignment of 2,350 vials, containing 23,500 vaccination shots landed in Goa and have been stored in secured cold storage facilities, Bandekar said.

Nearly 19,000 health department workers and Covid-19 warriors are expected to be covered in the first round of vaccination.