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As many as 15.92 crore vaccine doses lying with 28 States and eight Unions Territories can be used up to May 2022 under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ programme, official sources told BusinessLine .
“There is no question of wasting a single Covid vaccine dose at this crucial time, when it is an essential public health commodity. Initially, vaccine wastage of up to 10 per cent was accepted, but it has been reduced to 1 per cent. Vested interests at work are spreading such rumours,” a top government source said.
Inquiries with States including Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Tripura, Gujarat and Uttarakhand as also the Centre revealed that the expiry date for the current stock is not January but May. Doses are administered and stocks replenished in a cyclical manner because Covishield is to be administered with a gap of about three months and over a month in the case of Covaxin, said a Health Ministry source.
For instance, Uttar Pradesh has about 1.5 crore doses, with expiry date over six months hence. The State’s average of the first dose is 68 per cent and of the second dose 27 per cent. “We are hoping to complete the first dose vaccination by December-end. We are administering around 10 lakh doses daily. The current stock will get exhausted once the vaccination drive gets further accelerated to over 15 lakh doses a day,” said a UP government official.
Officials in Gujarat said all the vaccine doses on the verge of expiration have been used.
“Currently, we have 90 lakhdoses to be administered — 40 lakh for the first dose and 50-60 lakh for the second. We will administer the second dose as soon as the beneficiaries become eligible after 28-85 days after the first. We are hoping to achieve the vaccination target by December,” said a Gujarat government source.
Adequate stock in UP
Uttarakhand officials said they have adequate stocks of 12-13 lakh doses. In Arunachal Pradesh, officials said they do not get doses in excess of the number of people requiring vaccination.
“The Centre supplies only those many doses that can be used. We have around 6.5 lakh shots and we have to cover nearly the same number for both the doses. If we need more, we will need to raise a demand with the Centre,” said an official.
In Tripura, the first dose inoculation coverage is 95.8 per cent and that of the second dose 68.9 per cent. “We have about 5,58,000 vaccine doses on hand. And, right now, some six lakh are due for the second dose. So the stock will be exhausted by December,” a source said.
Similarly, Odisha has stocks of more than 40 lakh doses of which Covishield doses are 31.97 lakh and Covaxin 8.85 lakh. According to State government sources, none of it will expire soon.
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