60k doses wasted in Ggm since jabs drive kicked off
GURUGRAM: Around 60,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been wasted in Gurugram district since the inoculation drive started, health department officials said on Sunday.
Officials attributed the wastage in the initial days to vaccine hesitancy in people, higher dose capacity of the vials and glitches in the system.
District immunisation officer Dr MP Singh said, “So far around 60,000 doses of vaccine have been wasted in the district, but there are different reasons for wastage. We have found that in the first phase, many healthcare and frontline workers got vaccinated but due to glitches in the system, the data could not be uploaded on the portal. Due to this, the wastage rate is high, but the on ground situation is different. Also, initially people were not so keen on taking the vaccine so if a vial was opened and not enough people were vaccinated within four hours, it led to wastage.”
Officials said that initially (January-february), each vial of Covaxin had 20 doses, which led to wastage, as not many people could be vaccinated within the four hours’ time limit when the vaccine can be used. At present, the district has a wastage rate of over 5% (approximately), with 1.2% wastage rate for Covaxin and 1% for Covishield.
While Covishield vials contained 10 doses each from the start, Covaxin vials too were brought down to this size later.
For those who took the first dose of vaccine and whose records could not be uploaded on the portal, the district health department is now clearing the logs by cross-checking with the beneficiaries by checking pay slips (for those who availed private services) and records on government registers for others. “The wastage rate is reducing now as we have an idea of how many people would be coming for vaccination (18-44 age group) at each site, due to mandatory registration on the COWIN portal. Also, because it is difficult to get the slots, people are not missing their vaccination dates. So now vials are getting over within an hour, thus reducing wastage,” added Dr Singh.
As of now, 593,099 people have been vaccinated in Gurugram district. On Sunday, 4,212 were administered the first dose of vaccine, while 441 were given the second.