Vaccine wastage dips to 2-3%

CHANDIGARH: The Covid-19 vaccine wastage in Haryana has been brought down to 2-3% as per the latest data Centre has released, said additional chief secretary (ACS, health) Rajeev Arora.

Earlier, the wastage percentage of Covieshield was 6% and that of Covaxin was 10.2%, prompting the Haryana health department to take corrective measures.“The vaccine wastage percentage was relatively higher in the data released by the Centre as there was data mismatch and the districts have rectified it,” Arora said. The data mismatch was corrected and subsequently the wastage percentages dropped in case of Covishield from 6% to 3.1% and that of Covaxin from 10.2% to 2.4%, he said. “So, the average wastage percentage is between 2-3%,” Arora added. Mission director, National Health Mission (Haryana) Prabhjot Singh, along with the state immunisation team, held two orientation programmes with officers of the health department involved in vaccine administration of all districts through video-conferencing. Thereafter, the districts with high wastage were identified and separate consultation was given to them. Arora said districts which were high on vaccine wastage were Hisar, Palwal,

Nuh, Kaithal, Rohtak and Bhiwani. Arora said 53.72 lakh vaccine doses have been presently administered in state. Among the best performing districts are Gurugram (6,34,610 vaccine doses), followed by Faridabad (5,00,600), and Ambala (3,94,162). At least 2,07,892 healthcare workers (HCWs) have been administered first dose of the vaccine and 1,33,828 HCWs the second dose. Among the frontline workers (FLWs), 1,64,609 FLWs have been administered the first dose and 75,740 FLWs the second dose. Among people above 60, and those falling within the age group of 45 to 60, 32,70,712 people were administered the first dose of vaccine and 7,74,105 the second dose.