PANJIM: Stating that at present the national vaccine wastage rate is around 6 per cent; the Centre on Wednesday advised the States and UTs to maintain vaccine wastage at below 1 per cent.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and Chairperson of Empowered Group on COVID-19 vaccination R S Sharma chaired a high-level meeting through video conference on Wednesday a day before India opens up its vaccination drive to all above 45 years.
The States & UTs were also advised to regularly review vaccine wastage across all levels to minimise the same and to ensure timely utilisation of available stocks to avoid expiry of vaccines without usage. Emphasis was laid on the need for timely updating of data of vaccine consumption to be ensured on CoWIN & eVIN portals.
Sharma assured that there is no problem in the storage and logistics of vaccines.
He re-emphasised the point that there is no value in conserving vaccines for the second dose and that States must promptly supply vaccines to all government and private hospitals where there is a demand.
The meet was held with Health Secretaries, State Mission Directors of NHM and State Immunisation officers of all States and Union Territories (UTs).
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in a statement said the meeting was convened to review the status, pace and issues regarding COVID vaccination across the country as well as the preparations for the vaccine rollout in April 2021.
A key theme underlying the meet was the identification of low vaccine coverage pockets particularly in districts showing COVID surge and for taking corrective actions there.
There were four areas where the States and UTs were given advice regarding the vaccination coverage of Healthcare Workers (HCW) & Frontline Workers (FLW).
The first was that it should be ensured that only eligible beneficiaries are registered and vaccinated under the category of HCW and FLW. Second was for archiving incorrect/duplicate entries on the CoWIN platform. Third was for identifying pockets of low vaccination coverage – health facility/professional association/blocks, districts, etc, for taking corrective action. And finally, advice was given about the saturation of vaccination of these groups on priority.
Regarding the involvement of private COVID Vaccination Centres (CVC), the States/UTs were asked to conduct regular reviews of vaccinations at private CVCs with respect to their capacity utilisation and to undertake Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis of CVCs to identify need for additional CVCs within States/UTs. These local authorities were further asked to address apprehensions of private CVCs regarding vaccine supply, guidelines, etc, proactively.
On the issue of vaccine stocks, the States and UTs were advised to ensure that there is no sedimentation of vaccine stocks at any level of storage and that the distribution is based on consumption to avoid overstocking as well as under-stocking at ‘Cold Chain Points’ and CVCs. States & UTs were further asked to ensure that regular review of vaccine stocks and consumption is undertaken to identify gap areas and address the same.
