COVID vaccines wastage reported in Rajasthan's Bundi

It's a precarious situation when vaccine is the only weapon against the deadly Covid-19 and the state governments are floating global tenders to procure COVID-19 vaccine, there have been several cases where wastage of vaccine doses has been reported.

Amid the shortage of COVID vaccines in Rajasthan, wastage of vaccine doses has been reported in the Bundi district.

From a single vial, 10 to 11 beneficiaries can be vaccinated. When a vial is opened, the doses are to be administered within four hours. But in the rural areas of the Bundi district, the villagers are reluctant to get vaccinated against coronavirus .

According to local healthcare workers, villagers are not coming in good numbers which is the main reason behind the wastage of vaccines or biomedical waste.

In the primary health centres of Khatkad, Lakeri and Indergarh in the Bundi district, healthcare workers are compelled to throw vaccine doses in the dustbin as only a few villagers came from vaccination. As other villagers did not reach, the reaming doses of the opened vial had to be disposed into the dustbin as they no longer remained useful after four hours, said the local healthcare workers.

Rajasthan Health Minister Dr Raghu Sharma on said that the state government will appeal to the Supreme Court to direct the Government of India to issue global tenders and procure COVID-19 vaccines.

He said that COVID-19 vaccines allocated by the Centre will not be sufficient for the state.

"Global tender does not help much. Why should we buy vaccines at a higher price from abroad? For the Centre, it is Rs 150 but states have to pay Rs 300-400. Our government will appeal to the Supreme Court to direct the government of India to issue global tenders and procure vaccines, and we can bear its cost," Sharma told ANI.

The health minister said that the government has allotted 12.66 lakh vaccines for the month of June as it will not be possible to vaccinate 3.25 crore beneficiaries including second doses and wastage.

"For June, the government has allotted 12.66 lakh vaccines (both Serum Institue and Bharat Biotech). With this combined quota, it will not be possible to vaccinate 3.25 crore beneficiaries as double dose and wastage makes vaccine requirement nearly 7 crores," said Dr Sharma.

Rajasthan recorded 1,498 fresh COVID cases and 68 deaths on Monday, according to the state health department. The new cases pushed the case tally in Rajasthan to 9,39,958. With the new fatalities, the COVID death toll in the state mounted to 8,385.

( With inputs from ANI )

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