Rajasthan exceeds Covid vaccination target in 1st round, wastage percentage low

In Rajasthan around 97% of Covid vaccines were utilised during the three days of the first phase of the vaccination drive against the target of 90%, set by the Central government. The vaccine wastage percentage in the state was 3.40%, said officials.

“Because of multiple reasons, the target for Covid vaccination, set by the central government was 90%. But in Rajasthan, 96.59% vaccines have been used. The vaccine wastage percentage was only 3.40% and we are trying to reduce this too. In the first three days of vaccinations 32,379 healthcare workers were vaccinated across 501 sites,” said Siddharth Mahajan, secretary, health.

After a review meeting on Saturday, chief minister Ashok Gehlot said health workers in the state were coming forward with great enthusiasm and participating in the vaccination drive.

“Rajasthan is the only state in the country to be put in the green category in the detailed evaluation conducted by the World Health Organization due to better performance on all the parameters of vaccination,” said Gehlot.

He added that instructions have been given that according to the guidelines of the government of India, the first phase of vaccination should be completed as soon as possible by increasing the number of sites.

Earlier, the CM had tweeted to say that healthcare workers had come forward in fewer numbers for vaccination. He had attributed the low turnout also to an ‘exchange of barbs’ between the two vaccine manufacturers, which he suggested could have lowered people’s confidence in the vaccines. He had, however, welcomed the new guidelines released by Covaxin manufacturer Bharat Biotech and wished that it would help in building trust in the vaccine.