Covid-19

 

Update on Vaccination

1. 2021/06/17 - 25.45 Cr ( administered ) - 27.28 Cr ( supplied ) - link - 4y to vaccinate 1.35B
2. 2021/06/13 - 25.12 Cr ( administered ) - 26.64 Cr ( supplied ) - link
3. 2021/05/12 - 17.52 Cr ( administered )

What are the causes of vaccine wastage ?

1. Vaccine wastage is unavoidable.
2. 10% of C19 vaccines procured by center face "Programmatic wastage"
3. Wastage Multiplication Factor ( WMF ) is taken into consideration while planning vaccination program. WMP = 1.11 for Covid-19 allowing programmatic wastage = 10% 
1. WMT = 100 / ( 100 - wastage ) = 100 / ( 100 - 10) = 100/ 90 = 1.11
4. Vaccine wastage happens during
1. Transportation - Breaking, getting damaged
2. Storage - Particular Temperature Range
3. Pilferage - vaccine stolen
4. Contamination of vaccine after opening it in another way
5. Opened vaccine has to used within a fixed time ( about 4hrs )
6. Vaccine hesitancy is high or remote area  which are not densely populated.
5. Covid-19 Vaccine supplied at multi-dose vials, each vial having 10 doses of vaccine. 

What is Negative wastage of Vaccine?

1. Staggering the beneficiary
2. Open vials which have earlier expiry Date
3. It is possible to extract 11-12 does instead of 10 does by careful administration due to WMF
4. State like - Kerala, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh have registered Negative vaccine wastage 

What can be done to reduce vaccine wastage?

1. Proper planning and care 
1. Vials with earlier expiry data should be used before.
2. Each vial has 10 doses, if Judiciously used 11-12 doses can be extracted by Opening new vial only when there are certain number of beneficiaries present.
3. Staggered and continuous movement of beneficiaries can ensure that there are aleast 10 beneficiaries available within 4hrs
2. Retrain and reorient vaccinators to ensure judicious usage of the vaccines
3. Wastage more than national average will be adjusted from the subsequent allocations to that state or union territory.
4. Reduce wastage during transport
5. Correct temperature should be maintained with Temperature log
1. Deviation quickly noticed and corrective measures taken
2. Any damaged storage equipment should be quickly replaced.
6. Filling extra vaccine in a vile is common practise. 

Nodal authority Publishing Data of Vaccination

1. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare ( MoHFW)

Supreme Court Suo Motu  ( 3 J Bench - DYC, Nageswar Rao, Ravindra Bhat )

1. Earlier center vaccination policy was termed arbitrary.
2. Digital Divide - accessing vaccine - link
1. Central govt says that if a person does not have access to either internet or digital devices or does not wish to self-register, but wants to get vaccinated he can visit nearest vaccination center where the health worker of the center would register him in device and he would be vaccinated.
2. Walk-in ( On site registration ) vaccination is permissible for all and digital divide is not constraint for access to vaccination.
3. Involve Private hospitals in vaccination drive 
1. 55% of population of country seeks and gets medical care and health service from private hospitals
2. Public health program - be it vaccination or otherwise involvement of private hospitals is always found desirable. 
4. Non-transferable electronic vouchers
1. any person / institution / industry / NGO having financial ability can purchase and give it economically weaker sections of the society.
2. Vouchers can be redeemed by the recipient of voucher at private vaccination center and can get free vaccination.
5. Door to Door vaccination
1. for disable will not be carried on as it is not provisioned under National C19 vaccination programme
2. Risk of break in cold chain, vaccine wastage, delay in reaching health facility resulting in derailment of time schedule 
3. Expert committee - community based approach of Near-to-Home COVID vaccination centers for differently abled and elderly citizens.
6. SC - Death Certificate 
1. Should have cause of death - death due to covid
2. Duty of every authority to issue accurate/correct death certificate stating the correct and accurate cause of death, so that the family members of the deceased who died due to covid may not face any difficulty in getting benefits of the schemes that may be declared by the government for the death of the deceased who died due to Covid
3. Reepak Kansal Vs Union of India LL 2021 SC 276

Source : 

1. https://www.businesstoday.in/current/economy-politics/covid-19-how-vaccine-wastage-happens-how-to-reduce-it/story/438906.html - link
2. Unicef - vaccination wastage assessment - link