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Wastage Can Be Kept Low When Vaccinating In Campaign Mode

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-06-10 14:10:48

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

Covid vaccines come in a vial of ten doses (with a little extra to compensate for wastage). After opening a vial, 10 people have to be vaccinated in four hours, for that is the shelf life of the vial after it is opened. Hence, if used correctly (vaccinating people in multiples of 10) there should ideally be no wastage of doses. The national average wastage is 6.3%. But the situation in India is such that some states like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are wasting 33.9 and 15.7 percent of the doses respectively. This is way beyond the 10 percent wastage allowed by the Centre in January. It also shows that there is gross mismanagement. For, if states like West Bengal and Kerala can report negative wastage (by making use of the extra dose) to the extent of -5.4% and -6.3% respectively, the other states can surely ensure that the wastage is kept below 10%, if not lower.

Here, it also needs to be stated that the Centre's recent insistence that wastage should be kept below 1% is, according to experts and those working in the field, unrealistic and will work to a disadvantage. They say it could lead to data fudging, denial of vaccination and use after four hours of opening it. The wastage allowance in vaccination has a long history and it is set based on several factors like usability and storage. Hence, for a vaccine that can be used for 28 days after opening, the wastage allowance is only 10 percent while for a vaccine that can be used only four hours after opening it is 25%.

But those vaccines are used in normal times and candidates are few and far between. In the case of the Covid vaccines, there is a national inoculation drive that is being conducted on war footing and it will cover a huge percentage of the adult population. Up to 30 lakh doses are being administered daily and it will be scaled up to 1 crore doses from August. Hence, it is obvious that each vial, once opened, is used within one hour, if not less. Thus, it can also be said that the wastage is entirely due to mismanagement or lack of anticipation. The states that have reported a high percentage of wasted doses need to tighten their process and study how West Bengal and Kerala are managing their centres. While it not feasible to keep wastage below 1%, with better management, it can surely be brought down below 3% given the fact that there is always a waiting list of candidates. 

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