Squeezing The Last Drop! How Kerala Used 73,38,806 COVID Vaccine Doses To Give 74,26,164 Jabs
Amid the current shortage of COVID-19 vaccines, wastage of the crucial doses has been a matter of concern in many states.
Kerala has been one of the few states that have reported a 'zero wastage' of COVID-19 vaccines so far.
Now, the Kerala government has said that the state has been maintaining a negative wastage - meaning that even the doses that were allocated as 'wastage factor' are being utilized to inoculate people.
One vial or a bottle of the vaccine has enough doses to provide the jabs to 10 people, but the manufacturers add one dose extra as a 'wastage factor'.
Usually, this is lost between the ten doses that are taken from the one vial, but in Kerala, the Chief Minister said that they have been able to vaccinate 11 people from one vial.
Though the state had so far received 73,38,860 doses of vaccine from the centre, it could vaccinate more people as from each vial vaccines were used carefully.
"Each Covid vaccine vial contains up to ten doses and one additional dose to factor in wastage. We received 73,38,860 doses from the Central Government and we could use it for 74,26,164 doses," Pinarayi Vijayan said.
"We were able to give the extra dose as well. These figures show that we have already provided more than what the central government had given. We were able to deliver the vaccine with such care, thanks to the ingenuity of the healthcare workers, especially nurses."
According to Vijayan, the state currently has a stock of 2.4 lakh vaccine doses, which will only last a maximum of two days.
The problem the state was now facing was non-availability of vaccines. The Centre should either be prepared to give free vaccines to those over 45 years of age or ensure adequate supply of vaccines to enable the states to procure them, the chief minister said.
Kerala has written to the Union government several times to solve the vaccine shortage, Vijayan said.
Last week, the Kerala Government had said that it would purchase one-crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines from two manufacturers for the 18-45 age group.
The vaccines will cost Rs 483 crore. Of the one-crore doses, 70 lakh doses will be Covishield and the rest Covaxin. The purchase will be completed by July.
