Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji

Panaji, Apr 15: Heerabai Naguesh Parab, a 108-year-old woman, on Wednesday morning April 14 received the first dose of the vaccine at Tika Utsav held at Mulgao village in North Goa. According to a health official, she is the oldest vaccine beneficiary in the state so far.

"I'm perfectly fine. I eat everything, including ice cream. When I was a child, we were poor. We survived on plain rice congee, and sometimes there would be chutney as a side dish. There wasn't much to eat in those days," Parab said, explaining what keeps strong and steady.

Parab is known to be the oldest person in her village Mulago, she is mobile and doesn't even need a walking stick. She walked into the vaccine centre to receive her first dose.

Mother of eight children, her eldest daughter is an 80-year-old. Her family vouches her to be the most hard-working. "As a child, I have seen her working in the fields and doing housework. We have heard stories about her being a farm worker even as a child, and before she was married," said her grandson, Snehal. Parab does not have diabetes or hypertension though she has suffered cardiac arrest twice.