Nagaland cuts down vaccine wastage

May 8, 2021 43 Views No Comment

Morung Express News
Dimapur | May 8

In what could be indicative of improved management as well more beneficiaries turning out for vaccination, Nagaland has reduced COVID-19 vaccine wastage to 2.75%, highlighted data released by the Union Ministry of Health And Family Welfare (MoHFW) on May 7.

As on May 7 at 8:00 am, the percentage of vaccine wastage reported was 2.75% in Nagaland, down from 4.13% on May 6.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), vaccine wastage is the sum of vaccines “discarded, lost, damaged or destroyed” and ensuring minimisation of wastage is crucial as it account for significant portion of immunization programme costs.

“When there are more beneficiaries, wastage will be reduced automatically,” a State health official informed, adding that wastage is actually permissible to a certain limit.

“For instance, if there are 10 doses in a vial, you cannot extract all doses and some will stay back in the syringe too. When a vial of ten doses is opened and only 7 turn up, there is more wastage as the leftover cannot be taken back,” the official elaborated. Each COVIDSHIELD vial contains 10 doses.

It is also indicative of better organization of vaccination sessions as the health care workers are aware of how many doses to give, he added. Reconciling of offline sessions on CoWIN portal can also improve the percentage.

Wastages can also occur when there is sparse population, difficult topography and other logistical factors and North Eastern States like Manipur, Assam and Meghalaya are among the top-10 in India, reporting highest vaccine wastages.

Nagaland moved out of the top 10 while states like Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura have been maintaining low vaccine wastage consistently.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry’s May 7 release informed that the Government of India has so far provided more than 17.35 crore vaccine doses to States/UTs free of cost.

Out of this Nagaland has so far received over 3,26,440 doses. The total consumption of doses in Nagaland till 8:00 am on May 7 was 2,21,801, including wastage. Incidentally, consumption was higher on May 6 at 2,22,293 as per the Health Ministry’s May 6 data.

There are still 1,04,639 doses available in Nagaland out of 90,30,670 vaccine doses available with States/Union Territories, the MOHFW data maintained.

As there is a time-lag in reconciling of offline sessions on CoWIN portal in case of Nagaland, the consumption and balance availability of doses could be lower. According to data shared by the State Immunisation Officer, Nagaland, a total of 2,24,839 doses have been administrated in Nagaland till May 7.

Source: https://morungexpress.com/nagaland-cuts-down-vaccine-wastage