Jammu and Kashmir has reported 10.8% Covid-19 vaccination wastage which is higher than the national average of 6.3%, even as the central government has directed the UT administration to keep it below 1%.
J&K figures at number four in the states/UTs in terms of higher wastage of Covid vaccination.
” . . . whereas States have been urged repeatedly to keep vaccine wastage below 1%, many States such as Jharkhand (37.3%), Chhattisgarh (30.2%), Tamil Nadu (15.5%), Jammu and Kashmir (10.8%), Madhya Pradesh (10.7%) are reporting much higher wastage than the national average (6.3%),” reads an official communiqué.
According to the health ministry, vaccines are wasted because of factors like doses crossing the expiry date, getting destroyed by extreme heat or cold, or theft. Moreover, when the vaccine is spoiled in the vials, it is either because the entire dose has not been injected, or people have not reached the centres on time or the open vial has been dropped into water.
As per the officials, the J&K government has been conveyed by the Union Health Ministry to reduce the vaccine wastage “as it hampers the vaccination drive which is being carried out across the country.”
In Jammu and Kashmir total 30,83,534 vaccines have been administered; Jammu and Shopian are the two districts out of 20 which have recorded 100 percent vaccination coverage in people above 45-years of age.
Meanwhile, outgoing J&K Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam during a meeting with Union Home Secretary said that currently, Jammu and Kashmir is among the leading regions in the country in vaccination of above 45 years’ age group having vaccinated 66% of its eligible population which is well above the national average of 32%.
Within J&K, 4 districts – Ganderbal, Jammu, Samba, and Shopian, have achieved 100% coverage in this category, while the remaining continue with promising progress. To pace up vaccination in the 18-45 age category, it was requested that Jammu and Kashmir be provided with a sustained supply of vaccines in the coming months.