Hyderabad: Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have denied the Narendra Modi government’s figures that show they have the highest Covid-19 vaccine wastage, adding that there could be an issue with Centre’s database.
On Wednesday, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said Telangana recorded 17.6 per cent wastage, Andhra Pradesh 11.6 per cent and Uttar Pradesh 9.4 per cent. All these states were above the national average of 6.5 per cent.
According to the three states, the Centre’s numbers are not reconciled with their own data. Moreover, they note other factors, including the shelf life of vaccine vials and low turnout in rural areas.
Have written to Centre, says Telangana
The Telangana Health Department refuted the Centre’s figure of 17.6 per cent late Thursday, saying the vaccine wastage in the state is only at 1.22 per cent.
According to an official note released to the press from the state’s Director of Public Health and Family Welfare G. Srinivas Rao, the total doses issued to Telangana, according to Centre’s eVIN portal, were 9,52,550, of which 40,540 doses were for the armed forces and about 25,680 doses were “buffer doses with CVCs (Covid vaccination centres) for advance scheduling”.
Excluding this, the state’s net vaccine consumption was 8,86,330 doses. Of these, 8,75,478 doses were successfully administered, resulting in only 1.22 per cent wastage.
The eVIN portal (Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network) is an indigenous technology developed to keep track of vaccine stocks, distribution and administration on a digital platform.
“There has been some miscommunication between both the governments. Our chief secretary has written to the Union government about the same yesterday. They said they will validate the numbers and we are waiting for a response,” Rao told ThePrint Friday.
“We need to detect two numbers (according to GOI guidelines) — the doses given to the Army and the number of doses given to private vaccination centres as buffer — because they will pay money to the Government of India and the state will supply in advance,” Rao said.
He added that the state has such “low wastage” because it is making sure that a vial is opened only once 10 people reach the vaccination centre so that the doses in the vial is not wasted.
There are around 20 doses per vial for Covaxin and 10 doses per vial for Covishield — the two approved Covid-19 vaccines in India. Once the vials are opened, the shelf life of doses is four hours, health officials said.
Another official from the state health department denied any massive wastage in Telangana, adding that there could be “issues” with the Centre’s database.
“Distribution of vaccine and administration of vaccine are two different categories, if you reconcile them, then there will obviously be a difference [that’s] more than the actual numbers. There is no such heavy wastage in Telangana,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
State officials also pointed to a relatively low turnout in rural areas and said that Telangana saw a “good response” from urban areas. According to them, the state has the capacity to vaccinate up to one lakh people a day.
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Andhra says low turnout accounts for some wastage
Officials in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh’s health department too pointed out alleged issues with the Centre’s database. There could be 5 per cent vaccine wastage in the state and one of the key reasons could be a relatively low turnout, they said.
“We are expecting 5 per cent of vaccine wastage and that is normal. The vaccine is just 0.5 ml in quantity and when one is using a needle to inject the vaccine, they need to make sure that there are no air bubbles and directly the liquid drops are coming out of the needle, so in that due process a couple of doses could be wasted,” said an Andhra official who didn’t wish to be named.
“Another reason is the low turnout in the state, particularly in village primary health care centres, tribal areas etc,” the official added.
There have been instances in Andhra where a vaccine vial was opened but an adequate number of people failed to turn up, leading to wastage of remaining doses.
In some cases, especially in smaller village primary health care centres, only four people turned up towards the end of the day. Once a vial which contains 10 doses is opened to vaccinate these four people, the rest of the doses have to be discarded as they cannot be kept beyond four hours, the official explained.
Andhra Health Commissioner Katamaneni Bhasker did not comment on the Centre’s vaccine wastage figures, but admitted to there being a low vaccination turnout in the state. He added that the number has improved in the last one week.
“The turnout is low in Andhra Pradesh comparatively but things have been improving since one week — from 30,000 a day, we’ve come to 80,000 now. Unlike other states, Andhra is administering vaccines almost six days a week and we made sure we have more number of centres for the same so that people do not have to travel much to get a vaccine shot,” Bhaskar told ThePrint.
According to the Union Health Ministry, 11,18,411 vaccine doses were administered in Andhra Pradesh.
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UP to work towards ‘zero wastage’ goal
Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government said the state’s vaccine wastage is one percentage point lesser — at 8.5 per cent — than what was quoted by the Union Health Ministry.
“At 8.5 per cent the proportion of vaccine wastage was well within the accepted range of 10 per cent but we are trying to bring it down further — first below national average. A brainstorming will be conducted on how to achieve the zero wastage goal,” state Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh told ThePrint.
“We have instructed all the centers to keep this in mind while doing vaccination. At present we have vaccinated more than 32 lakh people in the state,” Singh added.
Describing the Covid-19 vaccine as “precious”, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said it must be ensured that not a single vial of vaccine is wasted. “Immunisation of the concerned citizen should be ensured on the scheduled date of vaccination,” he said in a statement Thursday.
An official in the UP health ministry told ThePrint that officials have been instructed to open a vaccine vial only if 10 or 20 people reach the vaccination centre, given the shelf life factor.
“A vial of the Covid-19 vaccine contains a set number of doses that need to be administered within a few hours of opening the vial, so we need to change the monitoring system. District medical officials will monitor these things now onwards and one team from state capital will coordinate with them,” said the official who didn’t wish to be identified.
Prashant Srivastava contributed to this report.
(Edited by Amit Upadhyaya)
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