Goemkarponn Desk
PANAJI: The government has advised vaccinators to mark the date and time of opening each vial of the Covid-19 vaccine and discard them within 4 hours.
“The vaccinator is advised to mark date & time of opening each vial and all open vaccine vials need to be used/discarded within 4 hours of opening. Hence, expectation that vaccine wastage should be 1% or less is not at all unreasonable. It is reasonable & achievable,” the circular states
The central government also said Covid vaccine allocation to states may be negatively affected by high wastage rates, the government said Tuesday as part of its revised guidelines for the national vaccination drive.
The guidelines said the government – which has re-taken control of the vaccination drive – will procure 75 per cent of vaccines produced in India and distribute them to states “based on criteria such as population, disease burden and progress of vaccination”.
“Wastage of vaccine will affect the allocation negatively,” the guidelines said.
The warning is likely to be viewed unfavourably by the states (and people whose vaccination chances may now depend on their government’s efficiency) – particularly those already accused of wasting doses in the centre-states tug-of-war over supply of vaccines and slow pace of vaccinations.
