COVID vaccine wastage at 6.3% at national level, as high as 37% in some states: Centre
Despite advisory from the Ministry of Health to states to keep wastage of vaccines less than 1%, states like Jharkhand have recorded wastage as high as 37.3%.
FollowWhile vaccine shortage has hampered Covid-19 vaccination program in several states, vaccine wastage is as high as 37.3% in Jharkhand (37.3%), 30.2% in Chhattisgarh and 15.5% in Tamil Nadu.
States have been urged repeatedly to keep vaccine wastage below 1%, however, many States such as Jharkhand (37.3%), Chhattisgarh (30.2%), Tamil Nadu (15.5%), Jammu and Kashmir (10.8%), Madhya Pradesh (10.7%) are reporting much higher wastage than the national average (6.3%).
According to a report by ET Now, two weeks back Haryana topped the list of wasting vaccines at 6% for Covishield and 10% for Covaxin. However, Haryana Additional Chief Secretary Rajeev Arora said that the state has brought it down to 3.1% and 2.4% respectively.
Union health ministry on Tuesday held a virtual review meeting with administrators from States and UTs on the progress of vaccination in States, modifications on the CoWIN software that will provide more flexibility to vaccine administrators, along with the effective implementation of standard operating procedures (SOP) for containment and management of Covid-19 particularly in areas underserved by health infrastructure.
Furthermore, 1,00,000 doses are in the pipeline and will be received by the states and UTs within the next three days, the ministry said.
As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, the Centre has been supporting states and UTs by providing Covid-19 vaccines free of cost, and by also facilitating direct procurement by them, the ministry said.
Vaccine wastage in all vaccination programmes is unavoidable. However, efforts should be made to minimise the wastage. Vaccine wastage can happen during transportation, storage and even at vaccination centres.
States/UTs have been advised to prepare a district-wise, Covid Vaccination Centre (CVC)-wise plan for administration of Covid-19 vaccine till 15th June 2021 and use multiple media platforms for dissemination of such a plan. They were also advised to prepare and quickly implement decentralized communication strategy to address vaccine hesitancy in rural, tribal or hard-to-reach areas. Lactating women amongst healthcare workers and frontline workers who have not received vaccination are to be prioritized for vaccination. States/UTs were advised to make proactive efforts for engagement of private sector hospitals in Covid-19 vaccination.
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