Jharkhand not vaccine waster; Hemant Soren's office blames Co-Win glitch

Union health ministry's data revealed Jharkhand has recorded the highest vaccine wastage, followed by Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, J&K and Madhya Pradesh.

The Union health ministry on Wednesday put out vaccination wastage data according to which Jharkhand is the top waster with 37.3 per cent wastage, followed by Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh. The national average of wastage is 6.5 per cent while the states and Union territories are being repeatedly asked to keep wastage below 1 per cent. The states, however, dismissed the data and said the data is not properly updated.

Jharkhand's vaccine wastage is about 6,5 per cent, not 37,3 per cent, as mentioned in government data, Jharkhand CMO said.

Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren's office said the latest data of the vaccination in the state could not be fully uploaded to Co-Win due to technical difficulties. According to CMO data, the wastage of vaccine in the state is around 4.65 per cent.

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"The Govt of Jharkhand is fully focused on utilising its available vaccine doses in the most prudent manner possible ensuring minimal wastage. We hope to minimise it further with more focused vaccination awareness campaigns in deep forested & other rural areas of the state," Hemant Soren's office tweeted.

Out of 48.63 lakh vaccine doses supplied to all district of Jharkhand, 42.07 lakh doses have already been utilised and the state has around 6.56 lakh doses available now.

Chhattisgarh too has objected to the data and said that the state already wrote to the ministry informing that there were some data issues.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently stressed the need to minimising vaccine wastage as even the wastage of one dose means one will be deprived of the shot. "Wasting even a single dose means not being able to give a shield to a life. It is important to stop vaccine wastage. Health Ministry is providing information to the states regarding vaccines for 15 days. Vaccine supply will help you in managing vaccination timelines," PM Modi recently said.

The health ministry had accommodated for 10 per cent vaccine wastage when the drive began in January 2021. But now as the drive is expanding, the aim is to minimise wastage.

One of the reasons for vaccine wastage, as pointed out earlier, was vaccine hesitancy when people register for vaccination but do not eventually turn up. If a vial is opened but not enough people turn up, it may lead to vaccine wastage as the vaccines are to be used within a fixed time after the opening of the vial. Apart from this, vaccine wastage can take place during transportation or if the vials are not stored at the proper temperature required.

Kerala has claimed zero vaccine wastage as it managed to administer more doses than what it received from the Centre by adding the remnant of each dose.